


Ante Mortem

by Justanothersinger



Category: 07-Ghost
Genre: AU where everything is in a desert and slightly modern, Also Teito has amnesia from a bike accident, But cellphones are mentioned like twice in the entire storyline, M/M, Multi, Said amnesia creates all sorts of hassles, because why not
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-23
Updated: 2013-12-06
Packaged: 2018-01-02 10:27:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 91,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1055693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justanothersinger/pseuds/Justanothersinger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Teito Klein seemed like a normal teenage boy, normal enough considering he was a mysterious amnesiac found stranded in the desert under even more mysterious circumstances. So why were the forces of Darkness, from the scum of the shadows to the vessel of the Death Lord himself after him?And how will his protector keep him safe when he himself is the biggest threat to his life?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fated

Ante Mortem

Prelude: Fated

_Within one day, he felt the world turn over. Within one day, everything that had meaning made no sense to him anymore._

_Within one day...he lost all that he had gained over the course of ten years._

The boy was hurtling towards the wraith-like mist that enshrouded the dark landscape at an incredible speed, barely holding his consciousness as he dashed past the miles. The cold escaped into his body and reached down to his soul, freezing it, filling it with dread and chasing away what little warmth his body possessed.

He tried to fight it off. He really did. But the cold relentlessly pushed down on him, to the point where it was difficult to breathe. As he fought, he suddenly recognized the icy feeling that blanketed his being.

_I'm going to die..._

The realization filled his mind, as he felt the adrenaline rush leave him, weak and helpless. Gripping the handlebars He now clung on to the bike and felt a sickening, gut-wrenching thud of pain as his injured, vulnerable leg collided against the metallic body.

More cries followed the scream of pain, as he let loose his agony, not caring if anyone heard him, not caring even if  _he_ saw him, alone, defenceless and injured. He forgot where he was. He forgot who he was. He forgot _what_ he was.

Till the point where he couldn't feel anything any more; pain, terror, anger, hurt...nothing. He felt the cold numbness sweep over his body and blocking his train of frenzied thought.

_In my fading consciousness..._

The boy closed his eyes and sighed as the relieving numbness soothed his soul and beckoned him to a place where there existed no pain. Where there would exist a possibility of seeing his most precious-

He sucked in a breath as he felt the world jerk underneath him, swerving the motorcycle around. With a sickening jolt, he felt the motorcycle tip over from the force of it. In that, single terrifying moment, he re-lived all the memories he had up till that point.

The numbness slipped away from him like petals scattered by the wind, and the boy ground his teeth, wrenching open his eyes. The landscape was still rushing past him but the mist had faded and the dark velvet sky was now streaked with red, gold and lavender.

The pain. The foremost sane thought...the  _only_  sane thought in his mind was the drive to escape from his pain.

... _I saw snow from my hometown._

As he watched the sun slowly rise above the horizon, he felt a light, floating sensation...his limbs, buffeted by the rushing winds, hung above the metal body of the motorcycle. Slowly, he felt his eyes close again, as he drifted...away from himself, away from his pain, away from his past.

_It was so gentle and merciless._

He was going to float forever in this world.

He would float here, until all his unrelentingly painful memories were erased. His very existence was erased.

And he would forget the fact that an innocent, young boy had committed an unforgivable sin.

_**What is the true meaning of justice?** _

The desert sun shone bright and clear in the azure sky, sending unrelenting rays of golden light on three lone figures.

_What is the true meaning of evil?_

They raced across the savannah, leaving dusty winds in their wake. One of the figures raced ahead of the other two, while the latter called him anxiously.

_**Stand together with me on the path of light...** _

"Be careful!" The taller, more imposing of the remaining two called, as the blonde man rode ahead, grinning broadly. He didn't pay any heed to the warning. He never did. He just sped up faster, racing against the wind.

"They say idiots and elites like living on the edge." The smaller one of the two smiled sheepishly, watching the blonde go in amusement. His mauve eyes were gentle as they surveyed the warm brown of the man beside him. "You of all people should know that."

The other sighed, running a hand through his red hair. "True." He admitted, "But, I feel as the days pass by, he's becoming less familiar to me."

_**Lose ourselves in the tides of time...** _

The blonde man continued onward, unaware of their discussions.  _Kami, it's a great day to ride._  He thought to himself, violet-blue eyes shining with excitement,  _I'm glad I managed to sneak away during lunch. After all, I won't be able to do anymore of this for the next week or so..._

He grimaced,  _Trust that old fart to somehow sneak me in with the last group. Ah, well._

_**Forbidden is the desire of freedom...** _

He revved the engine and thundered down the dusty road, whooping all the while. Shutting his eyes against the scorching winds that threatened to burn his face, he felt the wind whip past his hair. He could almost feel himself drifting away from all the cares in the world.

Kami alone knows how long it's been since he ever felt like this. Forgetting who and what he was, his only goal; escape.

_Save me from myself..._

As he swerved a corner, he slammed headlong into something that knocked the breath out of him. His eyes flew open in shock and for an instant, he felt the ties that held him to the world cut and he hung weightless in the air. With a loud thud, he felt his body hit the ground, as his bike slipped out from under him and skidded off to crash to the ground with a loud, dying roar.

He had managed to survive the crash, but probably for not much longer. The ruby-topaz light that glared off what was left of his rear-view mirror, lying a few feet from him, told him that there was a fire, right behind him, consuming the wreckage. He clambered to his feet and started scraping off the metal parts of the twisted motorbike next to his own, gritting his teeth against the sheer heat.

When he had pulled away the metal, he felt a gasp catch in his throat. He automatically pulled out a cell-phone and speed-dialled the first number on the list. He waited with bated breath, feeling the heat of the flames sear his skin.

"Hello?" The red-haired man answered.

"Castor, get Labrador and come here. Now."


	2. Unknown

Ante Mortem

Chapter 1: Unknown

The first thing that registered in his mind was the strange, spicy scent. The scent that reached into his being and stirred a faint memory; a soft, wistful song. The winds that brought the scent were dry and barren, accompanied by its fair share of baking heat, which made the boy feel like he would catch fire just by staying in the vortex for too long.

Following the sense of smell, came the sense of hearing. He heard a distinctly loud roar and the sound of thunder in a bubble, which informed him that there were motorbikes in the vicinity.

And finally, the sense of touch told him that the winds bringing the smell of creosotes also encompassed his body lovingly, accompanied by two, vice-like objects holding his body upright. He squirmed a little and felt the vices adjust to his movement.

_Arms? Those are arms holding me up? But then, that means...!_

He felt his conscious thought return to him with a bang and he sucked in a deep breath. He writhed in the arms again, and hissed when he found that he was too weak to fight, to resist.

"Hey. I felt the brat move there just now."

The boy froze as a deep voice spoke, resonating above the desolate roar of the bikes. He pretended to relax again, breathing evenly. Instinct told him to be wary of any bad intentions from his captors.

He heard a reply, but it was drowned out by a sudden gush of roaring wind. The man holding him captive shifted him carefully.

"And there I was thinking I was having a rough time today...you've been through hell and back in one day, by the looks of it." The man said in a soft tone, his words meant only for the breakable teen in his arms.

As the boy pondered upon the words, he felt a sudden rush of fatigue over him. He groaned softly as he felt himself relinquish control on his body again, sinking deeper and deeper into the cool darkness...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

He wasn't much of a day person. But this was a bit much, even for the dazed teen.

He groaned and threw an arm over his head. Immediately, his hand came into contact with something soft and fluffy, cool under his heated skin. With a start, he realized the fluffiness surrounded his body and he felt a layer of fabric above his exposed side, up till his shoulder.

_A bed?_

Slowly, he sat up, rubbing his eyes to chase away sleep.

He was in a marble-panelled room, one side built with glass-panels, gracing the room with a breath-taking view. The room in itself was simply furnished; a circular white carpet on the floor, a modestly-sized dresser and cupboard which had the same dark blue colour of the marble. The bed faced the western wall of the room, with white sheets and black metal railings, illuminated by the soft, golden glow of the setting sun. A few feet away from the bed stood a full-length mirror

Looking at the crimson red sky, the boy felt a memory stirring in his mind. Something important. The boy frowned, but the harder he fought, the more he found it was slipping away from him.

He sighed heavily and watched the patterns made by the light dance on the white sheets. He didn't remember ever being so...relaxed.

Or did he? The feeling was vaguely familiar to him, as if he experienced it before, though his body immediately denied that statement. He groaned when the tensed-up muscles in his legs and arms slackened and stretched with his movement.

The room didn't look like his own either...but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember how his own room looked like. For all he knew, he probably slept under a rock somewhere.

His gaze drifted from the light to his hand. He opened and closed it, staring intently at the palm, noting the lines that graced and decorated it. It travelled up his arm and froze upon a scar stretching from his shoulder to his elbow.

The longer he stared at it, the more he felt the stirring in his head. But he couldn't remember...

 _I don't remember anything._  The thought struck his mind, and he realized the truth of his words.

He felt a spike of panic shoot through his body. He wracked his brain to remember something... _anything._

Nothing.

He threw the sheets off himself and clambered to the mirror. His face touched the cold glass, his breath fogging up the cool surface.

He saw a petit boy with a lean, thin frame, dressed in a torn black polo shirt and scuffed-up pants. There was a white strip of cloth that encircled his forehead, just above his eyes; wide, expressive eyes decorated in an intriguing emerald shade framed with chocolate-brown locks that hung on his face. His limbs were covered in brownish dust, but he could see that they were pale. His arm wasn't the only part of him covered in scars; interestingly, the cuts dominated the region near his wrist and palms and above his knee. There was a large one that connected his knee and ankle that looked the most recent; it was slightly inflamed and jagged, but looked well on the way to healing.

The boy staring at him was so familiar. And yet he was a stranger.

He couldn't think. Not now. All he wanted was to get away, far away from this place, from this boy, from everything. He wanted nothing more than to...forget that he had forgotten everything?

Nothing made any sense. He resisted the impulse to clutch his head in frustration.

 _I just need to take things slowly._  He took several deep breaths to steady himself, his eyes still lingering hungrily on his reflection.  _First, I have to figure out how I got here..._

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- x-x-x

"Nee, last night did you notice that weird mist?"

"Mist? What mist?"

"Oh, do you mean that weird fog that came at midnight yesterday?"

"Yes! I had to go to the storage facility to put back the broomstick and it was so creepy..."

"Um. Rosalie, what were you doing with a broomstick so late at night?"

"Er...I was getting to bed when I realized I left my broomstick at the room near Profe's shrine, so I went to get it...and I tripped over it. I was knocked out for two hours!"

The three girls laughed, while one of them scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "So, Athena. Did the bishops already leave for their fasting in the 6th District?" The blonde named Rosalie asked.

"Yes. And I have to hand it to Archbishop Jio for rounding them up on such short notice." The blue-haired woman answered, "Those poor people need it, though. Such a horrible fire..."

"Athena, did you notice a certain someone missing from mass?" The pink-haired woman asked, grinning widely. Athena raised an eyebrow at her, "As a matter of fact, I did. You wouldn't happen to know something about it, would you Libelle?"

"Maybe. I saw a certain blonde bishop leaving with the group."

"So, I guess the place will be more peaceful now." Rosalie said happily.

Just as she said those words, a resounding roar echoed through the hall. Before the three women could do anything more than flinch, a blur of pinkish fur dashed towards them, a violet-haired woman chasing the creature.

"Look out!" The woman yelled.

The creature she was chasing thudded into a glass-cased bookshelf, which wobbled dangerously over Athena.

"Athena!" Libelle called, as Rosalie dashed to her friend. Athena froze, screaming as the bookcase started its descent.

She waited for the impact. But...it never came.

"Move her!" A harsh voice demanded. Something came and tugged her out of the way. Athena opened her eyes and gasped in shock at the force of the strong arms carrying her back.

The sound of shattering glass was the first thing she heard, the ruby droplets of blood were the first things she saw.

The now-battered bookshelf was balanced precariously on one strong hand, while the other cradled the creature that caused all the mischief. With a pained grunt, the figure shoved the shelf back, where it landed with a crash back to its standing position on the wall.  
"Athena! Are you alright?" Rosalie asked worriedly as she slackened the grip in her arms around the stunned woman. Athena just gazed at the boy as he ran to her, a worried expression on his face.

His brown locks were drenched in sweat, and the bandage that covered his head-wound was stained with scarlet, but he held nothing but concern for Athena.

"Are you hurt?" He asked. Athena shook her head, not trusting herself to speak yet.

"Thank goodness." The boy sighed and he turned his attention to the creature in his arm; a pink, furry animal with long, floppy ears and a pair of small wings, its amethyst eyes gazed up at the boy as it squeaked.

"You seem to have caused a lot of trouble." The boy handed the animal back to the violet-haired woman, who bowed and left the scene without further ado.

"Goodness! You're injured!" Libelle ran to the boy, "We must get you back to your room! Where is it?" "I'm fine..." The boy squirmed under the woman's firm gaze and she grabbed his arm more forcefully. Her azure eyes looked at his own sternly, asking him who he planned to fool.

"Third left, down the hallway."

...

"Alright! All done!" Rosalie said, as she finished tying the knot on the last bandage, "Luckily, your wound didn't open up fully, so I was able to sew it back together. Please be more careful."

"Yes ma'am." The boy mumbled, staring at his sheets again, determinedly looking anywhere but Libelle, or even Rosalie and Athena for that matter.

"Try not to strain yourself too much." Libelle advised, as she placed a hand on his forehead, checking his temperature.

"S-sorry." The boy muttered.

Athena sighed, "If anyone should be sorry, it's me. I just...froze. If it wasn't for you..."

"It was just a silly accident. And no-one is to blame." Libelle cut Athena off firmly. She turned her kind blue eyes on the boy, "Thank you so much for helping us."

"My name is Athena. And this is Rosalie and Libelle. May I ask your name?"

The boy paused. His clear green eyes were clouded with sadness and confusion, as he looked at open violet.

_I can't remember.  
_

He expected as much, but it still threw him off that he couldn't remember his own  _name._

"It's ok if you don't tell us. We won't force you." Rosalie said kindly.

"...Are you working in a church?" He asked, noting for the first time their full black gowns and their white scarves with the sign of the cross. "Is that why you helped me?"

Athena looked back towards him. "Even if we haven't dedicated our lives to helping others, we'd help someone who was badly injured and in trouble. You don't ignore things like that. Remember that, little lamb that hath been brought by Heaven."

They left before the brunet could answer. He looked at the closed door with a sense of disbelief.

 _I refused to tell them my name...and yet, they still trust me?_ He thought confusedly, feeling his eyes getting heavier with each second. He could feel the weight of the honesty behind their words. And it still baffled him.

_Why?_

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

It was so quiet.

The boy felt his consciousness seep back in at regular intervals, only to be snatched away again as he expressed the desire to get up. His body was intent on sleeping and healing, and his mind was intent on awakening to this new, bizarre life and trying to figure out his past existence. The battle of wills continued, and he reminisced dreamily of the last waking moments he remembered.

He was left in a world, where he knew nothing and it felt dangerous. Wary of all new sensations and desperate for a clue to his past. As of yet, he couldn't remember anything, which erased the possibility that his mind was just confused and sleep-deprived.

He had no choice, but to wait until his memories came back. And when they did?

_It would be my making or breaking. It depends, though, on what life this body used to live. It looks like I had it tough, but I can't determine that. I'm still a stranger in a stranger's house, and I need to remember that before I jump to any conclusions._

He temporarily put that matter aside as he felt his consciousness seep back to him.

"...momentarily. Frau is gone and it's up to us to help them. Labrador, do you think we can handle this ourselves?"

"We could. But there's something unforeseen interfering in the path which our decisions have taken."

"What do you mean?"

"One piece, one vital decision is still to be made. And it is not us who must decide which is the true path to be taken."

Drifts of conversation reached his ears, as he slowly fought the sleepiness that refused to relinquish possession of his being. His deep groan, induced by the returning sensation of pain, alerted the speakers of his return to their world.

"Easy." A pair of strong arms gently cradled the weary teen as he pulled himself up. Tired green eyes met deep chocolate hues, peering at him through rimless glasses. The other person, a mauve-haired man with soft violet eyes was arranging a beautiful bouquet of deep blue forget-me-nots in a vase placed on the dresser.

"You still haven't fully healed yet." The red-haired man holding the boy up continued, as the teen adjusted his position so he was lying against the head-board.

"Who are you?" The teen asked.

"My name is Castor. And this is Labrador. We found you in the desert outside when we were scouting the area."

The boy looked straight at both men's eyes and saw nothing but pure honesty there. Either that, or they were adept at hiding their true intentions.

"How did I get there?"

"I'm afraid that is a question we cannot answer."

"Excuse me." Labrador spoke up, his voice soft and gentle. He walked up to the teen and gently rested a hand on his forehead. He laid his other palm on the forget-me-nots and closed his eyes for a moment.

The boy flinched back from his arm, staring at the mysterious man with wary eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." Labrador said, picking up a blue flower and handing it to the boy. "Here. Forget-me-nots do wonders for the forgotten. As indicated by the name."

Emerald-green eyes warily flickered to the flower, before the boy took it from Labrador, sniffing it warily. Almost immediately, the scent soothed his frazzled nerves and calmed him enough to think about the situation.

"I don't remember anything." He confessed, stroking each petal absentmindedly.

He didn't know why he was telling them his worries. He had no clue what prompted him to tell his woes to strangers, albeit kind and understanding ones. And he had no clue as to why, when he told them everything he felt, it was as though the spike of terror and uncertainty driving through his heart was removed, allowed to bleed and heal.

No. He was clueless. But, since he was going to hell, he might as well do it thoroughly.

"All the memories I had from childhood up till the moment I woke up here are gone. I don't even remember my name. And each new sensation, each new feeling...I feel like I know, and at the same time, I feel like a newborn child that has much to learn and so little time."

Castor regarded him gravely, "I see. I expected as much." He tousled the boy's hair, "So, we might as well get you filled in on where you are. You're in the town of Barsburg, in the Church in District 7."

"A church?" The boy remembered the three nuns he ran into earlier.

"Yes. We provide sanctuary for the weak and the willing and as long as anyone is here, he is under God's divine protection. It's aptly named the "Zone of God". No-one is forced to leave, not even serial killers, as long as they seek sanctuary. So I think we can handle an amnesiac runt."

The boy frowned heavily at Castor, who brushed off the brutal glare. "You haven't eaten for sometime, so we brought you this."

Labrador produced a tray filled with pancakes, a covered dish and a glass of pink liquid. "Please eat up." He requested, smiling sweetly at the boy. He raised an eyebrow warily at them, but found it hard to resist Labrador's enthusiastic smile. Hell, it was no wonder why he was named after the puppy-eyed breed of dog.

"Geez..."The boy muttered, spearing a pancake with unnecessary force. His irritation evaporated the moment it touched his lips though.

_It's good..._

"Here." Castor whipped the metal covering off and revealed a soup bowl in which...there lay roundish blob-like chunks that eerily looked like... _eyes?_

Labrador had gone back to arranging the flowers, but he turned around when he heard a gagging sound. The boy was staring at the soup in disbelief, not noticing the fact that his mouth was open.

"Usually, people react more strongly when they see this." Castor noted dryly, as the boy picked up a spoon and poked the...blobs. He turned to Castor, "If I get a choice, I'd rather you shot me actually." Was the brunet's reply.

The redhead laughed dryly at that. "We don't employ such crude methods. I assure you, it's safe to eat." He speared a blob with a fork and put it in his mouth. He chewed it slowly, feeling the boy's eyes on him and swallowed. The boy copied his movements and cautiously ate a morsel. "It's good." He admitted grudgingly.

"It's actually a type of fish specific to this town's regions. District 7 is famous for its eye-fish and edible flowers. The one you hold in your hand is well-known for its dry, sweet taste."

The boy eyed the flower warily, contemplating whether to actually nibble on a petal or not.

"Castor, be nice." Labrador sighed, "Well, we must leave now. We should not be late for mass." He smiled kindly at the boy. Castor followed his friend, but stopped in the doorway.

"Oh, right. We found this when we inspected your crash earlier. Incredibly, it's in perfect shape." He walked towards the cupboard and pulled out a guitar case. "If it helps you remember..."

The minute he saw the instrument, he felt the world underneath him shift and dissolve. He could have floated away for all he cared.

It was a breath-taking shade of amethyst violet, glimmering in the dying light. The boy's hands automatically shot out and cradled the instrument gently, lovingly. He looked at the instrument and felt a warm rush of adoration.

For all its beauty, to others it would appear a mere guitar.

But it struck the dazed amnesiac the most because...he  _recognized_ it.

"It's mine."He gripped the handle, running a finger lightly on the taut strings. He started strumming soft tunes on the guitar.

Before his eyes, Castor watched as the boy turned from hopeless desperado to someone with purpose, and all with a few single strokes of music. The boy had a starter point now; he was obviously a devout musician, and by the way the tunes were coming along, a masterful player.

If he could follow the unravelled thread, he'd be able to find what type of a person he was.

_But, I can't help feeling something's amiss._

He'd have to keep a close eye on their runaway.


	3. Mistaken

Chapter 2: Mistaken

_**Waking up to another day,** _

_**I close my eyes again,** _

_**When life goes in its perfect way,** _

_**I just keep walking along,** _

_The walls were large and towering. The gilded arch that decorated the vast hallways was about four heads taller than any person in the place, let alone me. The rooms were from palaces, straight out of a fairytale._

_People had always wondered if this place had fallen from the clouds and once graced the presence of angels, minstrels, messengers and even the Chief of Heaven himself._

_**Never believed in four-leaved clovers,** _

_**Bad luck, good luck's,** _

_**All the same to me,** _

_**Wake up to the reality,** _

_Warm skin pressed against cold marble, my breath came up in spiralling white mist. My eyes flew open and I saw the lean, thin frame bend over my crouched form._

_A single ray of light broke behind the figure's form; its silhouette sharply defined by the dying crimson sun behind him._

_**Life keeps knocking me down,** _

_**You push me back up,** _

_**Tellin' me this is,** _

_**One more crazy dream,** _

_The dying roar of the battleships echoed in the distance, almost in time with the footfalls of the mysterious stranger, as he walked ever closer to me. The silence was deafening, so much so that the rustling fabric of his clothes startled me._

_I crouched farther into the wall, powerless and weak, feeling the adrenaline rush leave me. What little strength I had was gone, replaced with a kind of hopeless longing, and a stab of ice-cold fear that pounded in my blood._

_One cold hand touched my face, travelling down the length of my chin. A mocking, perverted version of a loving caress. My heartbeat pounded loudly in my ears, and I had to strain my ears to catch the soft voice hovering over my head._

_**Tell me how,** _

_**You can still keep moving on,** _

_**Keep getting knocked down,** _

_**Tell me why,** _

_**You keep trying so hard,** _

_**Saving someone,** _

_**Who won't save himself,** _

" _You can't hate me. You never will."_

 _Listening to that chilly tone in the voice felt so..._ wrong.  _It finally made me break through my frozen state and I looked defiantly into those eyes that I feared to see for so long..._

And felt my consciousness return with an abrupt bang.

"Gah!" I choked out, my eyes flying open.

A brown-haired boy crouched by the glass-panelled walls, cradling a guitar in both his arms. His gaze met mine, his face wrenched in pain, emerald eyes filled with despair. Dark circles indicated that he may not have slept in a long time and his face held a gaunt, starved look that indicated that he hadn't eaten much either.

He looked so utterly  _finished._ And the most unsettling thing about his appearance was that boy was...me.

I finally unclenched my fingers from my guitar and shifted from my cross-legged position on the bed, groaning at the stabs of pain in my frozen limbs. I rubbed my eyes wearily and looked past my reflection outside, noting the lightening dark sky outside bemusedly.

_It's morning again...my third day since I lost my memories and found myself here. And, I'm still as confused as ever._

I remembered the two bishops I had met when I just woke up, trying to make sense of their behaviour. They had plenty of grounds to turn me away from the church once I had woken up, or maybe not bring me here at all, but left me to die in the desert alone.

Instead, they gave me a room to rest and recover in, talked to me when I had woken up. They asked for my side of the story, and...actually seemed to believe it.

Nothing at all suspicious in their behaviour...and they had the perfect alibi; they  _did_ work in a church after all.

But, no matter how much I tried to believe that they were truly trying to help me and were genuinely kind to me...I wasn't able to accept it. I was still wary of their intentions and refused to touch any of the food they sent up for me.

I looked at the growing pile of silver dishes and felt my gut twist in an unease that didn't belong to hunger. "Tch." I muttered, turning away. Again, I saw the reflection in the glass panes, and frowned as I noticed the gauntness in the figure again.

 _Well, since I feel much better today...I can try going outside and finding them. After,_ I added, as a growl from my bowel regions distracted me temporarily,  _I get something to eat. And...maybe a shower too._

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Not again." I muttered.

I walked down the winding corridors, sighing with frustration when I recognized the view from the open side; a towering fountain spouting out water in graceful arcs. It was situated on a platform, surrounded by narrow marble platforms floating on top of deep water.

I've come here so many times, I've memorized the pattern of the floating platforms around the fountain in my head.

I trudged down the corridor again, taking a left...and a right...left again...right...right again...and wound up in the same spot. It was all I could do not to bang my head against the walls.

_At this rate, I'll never get anywhere. Now what?_

Sudden footsteps down the corridor startled me, and looking up I saw someone walking towards where I stood.

Common sense told me to stay there and ask directions to the banquet hall. Instinct, however, screamed at me to hide and let him pass by. I took my chances with a couple of bishops and nuns, but I wasn't ready to meet another stranger. Not yet.

So, I hid behind a pillar and waited.

The person stomped right by me; a boy who looked like he was in his late teens with long, blonde hair in a ponytail. "I hope they haven't eaten all the bagels again..." He muttered grumpily.

 _He's going to the banquet hall too?_ I started following him quietly. If he knew his way around, I'd be much better off if I went where he was going. From pillar to pillar, I slunk behind him, while his mumbling grew softer and softer, until he was finally silent.

 _Looks like I'm not the only one with issues._ I thought, noting his troubled expression. Finally, he reached an enormous entrance, its double doors flung wide open.

There were hundreds upon hundreds of benches and seated on them were men in long, flowing white robes-bishop robes, I realized with a start, recognizing them from the ones Castor-san and Labrador-san wore-and nuns, talking to each other and eating. The delicious smell of baked bread and fruit jam wafted to my nose, and I raised a hand to my mouth to check whether I was actually drooling or not.

"Hakuren!" The shout startled both of us and I saw a ash-haired boy headed for the one I was stalking...uh, following. "Ouida." Hakuren nodded, "Have you and Liam decided to attend the exam, then?"

"Hakuren, even in the short amount of time we met, you might've noticed my little brother's...dedication to whatever he decides on. Of course, Liam joined the exam with me."

"Ouida, there is a difference between 'dedication' and 'tenacity'."

Ouida grinned at him, "So, you mind coming with me to the library after lunch? I have to look up the writings of the 33rd volume of the Bible. Your companion can come too."

"Companion?" Hakuren swivelled around and saw...a wide gap between the two marble pillars.

"Eh? Where did he go?" Ouida asked, confused. "There was someone standing by the pillar, watching you intently. I assumed that he was accompanying you to the hall..."

 _That was close._ I almost let loose a sigh of relief, before clamping my mouth shut hurriedly. I quietly moved out from behind the wide open double doors and walked down the tables. There were so  _many_ people, but somehow, the sheer vastness of the room made it seem less crowded. I felt slightly uneasy as I wandered downwards, looking for an empty spot to eat in.

I was so busy trying to blend in with the crowds, I almost didn't recognize three black-robed figures, giggling away merrily and clinking their glasses together.

"Sisters?" The word flew from my mouth, before I could stop myself. Even though my voice was too quiet and hoarse from not being used regularly, they still looked up and saw me.

"Oh!" Sister Athena's eyes widened, "It's the lost lamb that hath been guided to us by Heaven! Good morning!"

"Are you feeling better?" Sister Rosalie asked.

"We were quite worried when you wouldn't eat anything we sent up." Sister Libelle looked at me in concern.

"G-good morning." I mumbled, "I...um, I was just looking for a place to eat."

"There's one right here. Come and sit down! We have to make sure you eat properly to heal." Sister Rosalie drew up a chair next to her. "Y-yes, ma'am." I gulped, sitting down hurriedly and buttering a piece of toast.

"How do you feel today?" Sister Libelle asked, as she blew on a spoonful of hot soup. I paused, freezing mid-bite. Swallowing, I said, "Um. My head feels much better and...I'm able to move around."

"No, I mean...how do you  _feel?_ " She asked, gently. "I don't know." I said truthfully, fidgeting under her gaze, "I mean...it's very...disorienting."

 _And damn confusing. Where the hell can I go from here? And what kind of person will I be when my memories return?_ I refused to acknowledge the fact that they may never return. Apparently, one of the characteristics of the 'old' me was that I was pretty tenacious myself.

"Ah! Good morning there." A soft voice interrupted my musing and I looked up to see an approaching figure cloaked in bishop robes. "Labrador-san. Good morning." I greeted him.

"You look much better today." He said, with that all-too-familiar smile on his face, "I guess you won't be needing this then." He indicated the silver platter in his hands, which I suddenly realized was for me.

"I...I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Labrador kindly admonished, "Castor will be quite glad to know you're up and about. In his usual way, he was pretty worried about you too."

"Speaking of which, where is Castor-san?" I asked, looking around for the tall redhead.

"He's downstairs in his room, busy working." Labrador's smile was replaced by a worried frown, "He said he needed more time to finish his project, so he'd skip breakfast today."

"Um...I can take that platter to Castor-san." Again, the words came out of my mouth of their own accord. I resisted the urge to smack myself on the forehead and instead, looked at the lightly-shaded violet eyes beyond the bishop's veil, "It wouldn't be right for him to miss breakfast anyway...and I really want to thank him properly."

Labrador kept silent for sometime, returning my stare. Then, he smiled again. "Go ahead. Here's a map of the church." He knelt down so that his eye level was with mine, "Here. The cross is where your room is, the red circle is where Castor's room is. And mine...well, I sleep in the room closest to the gardens. Here." He pointed to a green star.

"Thank you." I stood up and nodded to the nuns there, "Thank you very much."

"I'll make sure to save something for you. You need to keep your strength up." Sister Athena said. I got up and balancing the map on top of the platter, walked slowly out of the hall.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- x-x-x

"Eastern wing...room 3546. A few feet from the sanctuary room..." I muttered the instructions under my breath, hoping that I wouldn't have to glance at the map every five seconds. Unsurprisingly, I failed. Miserably. All the corridors were exactly the same, it was a mere miracle I managed to follow that person...Hakuren, I think his name was...to the hall in the first place.

And speaking of Hakuren...I looked up and saw him standing in the way with his back turned to me. He was panting and he seemed highly agitated about something, completely unaware that I was standing behind him.

"Excuse me..." I said, approaching him.

His head snapped up and he looked directly at me. His breathing came out ragged, like he was afraid of something. The minute I took a step closer, he turned and dashed away.

_Eh? What happened to him?_

I just shrugged it off and continued on my way. After all, it was hardly my problem, whatever issue he was facing.

Things got strange though, when I took the fork in the pathway that approached the large sanctuary. I shifted the major portion of the dishes on my left hand; they were still hot from being freshly cooked. I was too busy trying to balance them to notice a figure blocking my path.

And without any warning, I crashed into Hakuren. Again.

He just took one look at me, went all white and muttered something under his breath.

"Hey, you ok?" I asked, a bit unnerved.

He just continued looking at me, then spun on his heel, straightened his back and dashed away like the blood-hounds of hell were after him. I stared after him, feeling my face frown in confusion.

"...This routine is starting to get a bit old." I muttered to myself, wondering what was causing his strange behaviour.

Finally, I managed to reach Castor's room. Putting the platters down on the floor, I knocked once on the door and waited. Waited. Waited. I knocked again, twice in quick succession.

Still, no answer.

 _Perhaps, he's out._ "I'm coming in!" I announced, opening it.

The room was simply furnished as was the one I was staying in...bed, mirror, dresser, cupboard and desk. But there was one slight difference...no, a big difference. The floor of the room opened out to form a wide circular pool, that covered the centre. The water was a clear topaz blue; deep and calm, the exact same colour as the water surrounding the fountain outside.

I walked towards the desk-avoiding the pool's edges-and set the platter on an empty space This done, I sat by the pool, waiting for Castor to come back to thank him for his kindness. Maybe he could answer my questions as to why they kept me here.

Time passed by and Castor still didn't return. My eyes wandered away from the door and rested on the pool instead. I crouched on the edge and looked beyond the reflection of the room, seeing the brown-haired teen; my own reflection staring back at me. His eyes were wide and wary, silently asking me what I was going to do now.

It was all so frustrating, I looked away irritably and tried pulling myself up into a sitting position. While I floundered about, my hand accidentally brushed the surface of the cool water and a distant resonating chime echoed in the room.

With a start, I pulled my hand back and looked at the pool in fright. Tentatively, I stroked the water's surface again with my finger and again the resonating tone echoed from the water.

I added my other hand and made rotating motions on the water, a shocked breath of air mixing with the plaintive tones of the water.

 _Amazing..._ The tunes became more sweet and sorrowful as they came out of my fingertips. The music floated out of the doorway and echoed in the hall.

The pool had transformed from a calm, clear mirror into a muddled chaos of ripples, bouncing against the hard surface with a trembling tenor. I lost myself in the tunes, as they became less random. Like corpses revived, they regained life and vitality through melody, as my hands moved against the water, settling into the tune of the song that haunted my consciousness.

A flash of colour caught my eye and I stopped to see...a girl with bubblegum-pink hair smile at me from under the water.

...Huh?

"Geh!" I hurriedly scurried away from the edge as the girl surfaced, head cocking to one side and smiling shyly at me. "I-I'm sorry! Were you there the whole time? I-I...am I in the right room?" I stuttered, continuing backward until I felt my head hit the wall with a  _bang_.

The girl continued to smile at me, skimming the surface of the water with her hands. She looked at me again and made a beckoning motion. "You want me to play?" I asked, confused. She nodded her head, and her breath came out in sweet, tinkling laughter.

I sat against the wall, trying to comprehend the sudden-and very unexpected-situation, while she waited for me to come. She flopped against a rock, exasperated and was opening her mouth when she stiffened suddenly and cocked her head to the doorway.

Before I could say anything else, she turned to me, waved hurriedly and disappeared into the pool's depths again. I stared after her like an idiot, blinking slowly at the water, like I was awakening from a bad dream, when the door opened.

"Ah, Castor-san, I-" I turned to the doorway and nearly gagged when I saw a pair of amethyst-violet eyes stare back at me, wide with horror. Hakuren gaped at me for a moment, before shaking his head and pointing a finger at me.

"Ok, seriously. What the hell is your issue?" He demanded.

"Huh?" I asked.

"I'm asking you what you want from me. This... _thing..._ this whole...it's creepy and it's putting me off my studying schedule."

"Huh?" I repeated brilliantly.

"Don't play dumb, Ouida  _saw_ you follow me!"

"Ah, well. About that-"

"Do you do this for a living? Is that why you came here?" Hakuren cut me off, like I hadn't even spoken. "Do you do this to the Sisters, too?" His face suddenly widened in horror and he glared at me even more fiercely, "Explain yourself!"

"I would." I replied, getting a little tired of his chatting, "But that's kinda hard to do when people start rambling on and on, getting the wrong idea about me."

"Who wouldn't with the way you've been skulking around?"

"I haven't been skulking around! I keep getting lost in this damned complicated church!"

"Please. Anyone who isn't mentally impaired can..." He trailed off, considered me for a moment, "...never mind."

Ok, that is it. I was sick and tired of being lost and confused and irritated to the core, and God forbid if I have to expend my frustration on a random stranger, even if he was so goddamn pompous and kept jumping to conclusions.

But since I was already going to hell...

"What was that, you long-haired, fox-faced...?" I sputtered, glaring at him angrily.

"What did you say, you little chibi...?"

"You heard me!" I huffed, taking a step towards him. In that split second, I felt a wave of exhaustion crash over me in one fell swoop. Gripping the wall harder, I continued to look up at him. "Look." I said, somewhat more calmly, "Will you stop shooting your mouth at me so I can explain? I'm here looking for Castor-san. I need to ask him something."

"Then just tell me already. I'm all ears."

I turned to see the redhead grin at me from the doorway. "Castor-san! H-how long have you been standing there?" I asked, bewildered. "For about ten seconds. That means I was here when you two started banging chests with each other." His tone remained light, but there was a deliberate coolness in his eyes that made me feel slightly uncomfortable. "It would do you good to remember that this is the House of God. You shouldn't fight here."

"Sorry." We muttered, glaring at each other from the corners of our eyes.

"Now. Hakuren-kun, I believe that you came here looking for this." The bishop procured the file from nowhere and held it to the boy, whose eyes lit up. "Ah, yes! Thank you so much!" Hakuren accepted the file, looking relieved. With a bow, he stepped out.

"Um, Castor-san..."

"Labrador told me. You came looking for me for more than just thanks, didn't you?" At my silence, the man sat down on the bed, hands clasped together on his lap.

"I want to know why you did this. I mean, you already explained to me," I added hastily as I noticed his frown, "But I really want to know what you expect of me. I want to know...if you truly...trust me.

"I would be lying if I said that I did."

I flinched at the grave tone in Castor's eyes and looked up to see chocolate brown hues boring into my own.

"Your presence here is a question of choices to be made. According to you, you have absolutely no memory of your past, which leaves a big question mark as to who you are, what you do, where you come from. And that gives many people innumerable number of ways to manipulate you, control you and use you for their own ends. Our duty is to protect the weak from evil and corruption and this place is the only true sanctuary in the land."

"And how do I know that  _you're_ not taking advantage of me?" I asked, feeling an unusual restlessness stir in me.

"That is for God and for you to decide." He replied, looking back at me. I saw that his sharp gaze had been softened by shreds of kindness, "But for right now, the best thing to do is let you heal. You've been through a terrible ordeal and trust or not, your health is the first priority here."

I just remained mute, staring at the stone wall, pondering what he said. So they weren't forcing me to stay here, then...

"Oh, and I suggest you go back to your room now. The good Sisters will be after my blood if you fainted out in the hallway, because I kept you here for too long." Castor suggested, grinning faintly at me. I gulped. "Funnily enough, it's not too hard for me to imagine." The man chuckled and said, "Go on. I'll see you in the evening."

I bowed and walked out, feeling the heat of the sun on my back as I trudged back through the marble corridors. I stared straight at the hot sun, feeling the heat sear my eyelids. Yet, I refused to look away.

 _That is for you and God to decide._ That was what Castor said.

 _If you're really up there,_ I thought,  _Then please tell me...is something bad going to happen now? To me? To them? What will happen to me once I'm healed and ready to make my own choices?_

As I stared into the bright light, I felt a ripple of cold run through my body, accompanied by a strange, prickling sensation.

_Someone's watching me._

I looked back and saw...nothing.

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Normal POV:

The boy's emerald gaze locked on the empty corridor for one second, before wrenching it away and sighing. "Next thing I know, I'll be afraid of my own shadow." He muttered, walking away.

No sooner had he turned the corner did a shapeless shadow manifest in the air, making strange, bubbling sounds. The shadow writhed and twisted, forming a recognizable shape; one of a human.

The face of the shadow raised its head and grinned at the empty corridor.

"Got ya."

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	4. Beckoned

Ante Mortem

Chapter 3: Beckoned

_What is the main reason for being born? Why am I still alive?_

Most people go through their lives without ever hearing the answers to those questions. There is still no definite answer, though we all have developed our own rhyme and reasons in an attempt to understand the workings of the eyes that watch over us.

Life is a delicate balance of love and misery. One cannot do without the other, no matter how much we wish otherwise. Anger, hate, sadness, envy, misery, pain. Love, hope, happiness, serenity, comfort, kindness.

All of us are born with equal amounts of both good and evil, the thin grey line between light and darkness, and we are decreed to choose whichever we must in order to find out what life truly means.

And what if there was one person who woke up one day and forgot his reason for living?

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- x-x

_**Every time I close my eyes, I feel wary. Unsafe.** _

_**I feel like I'm drowning...** _

_...Racing against the blazing heat, looking for him..._

_**...in a sea of memories, big and small...** _

_...Panic and fury gripped his heart at the sight before him..._

_**...where the world was still unknown and everything I knew was a dream...** _

_...He let loose a furious cry and charged onwards..._

_**...and where the destiny preluded and the destiny afore ye was one and the same.** _

_...screaming his name with all his might._

_His name? What was his name?_

_His name was..._

WHAM!

My eyes flew open in shock as I felt myself being hurtled unceremoniously from the bed in one, swift motion. I gasped, as the vertigo hit my head wound, resulting in a terrifying, sickening dizziness.

"Wake up!" A harsh voice demanded, "You have some explaining to do!"

I wrenched my eyes open to see a teenage boy leer at me from above, his expression livid. "Explain yourself!" He yelled, wrenching me by the collar.

"What the hell did I do  _now_?" I sputtered, glaring back at Hakuren. He tossed his head, made a derisive sort of noise and said, "Oh, please. Don't try that with me...I'm a lot smarter than  _that._ "

"Do tell. I'm all ears...not that I have a choice."

"I would like you to explain what you did to the library while I was at the training session." He elaborated, trapping my gaze in his. I looked away from his eyes and continued flailing about some more. "Huh?" I asked, finally giving up and just dangling by the collar.

"While I was preparing for the upcoming exams, some ruffian attacked the library and study hall yesterday, destroying an entire row of bookshelves in the process." He shuddered a little before continuing, "And just a day before, my room was ransacked, leaving behind large traces of ink on my books. Where am I supposed to get the last three volumes of the Bible now?" He growled furiously.

"And why do you automatically presume it was me?" I asked icily.

"You avoided my eye-contact. Only guilty criminals avoid eye-contact with their accuser."

"Your theories are a little misguided there, Sherlock." I resisted the temptation of rolling my eyes and continued dryly, "Anyone else would break eye-contact to struggle against a choke-hold that their accuser inflicts on them. Any tighter and those Bishops may reconsider your case of Sanctuary."

"Are you threatening me?"  
"No, stating the obvious."

"There's also the fact that you were locked in your room for two days, supposedly in some deep sleep. You could've easily escaped from the window."

"I was asleep for two days?"  _It just felt like a few hours...no wonder I felt like crap when he woke me up..._

"Apparently, according to Bishop Castor. He was considering breaking down the door to run a check on you."

"Huh."  _Interesting...the man seems to be more concerned than he shows...though it's probably a good thing that Hakuren woke me up when he did...I shudder to think what_ tests  _he would run on me..._ I shuddered at the thought.

A crash from below interrupted my musings and startled the boy holding me, finally making him let go of my collar. "It came from the kitchen!" He rounded on me, "What are you planning to do there now?"

"Stupid retard! How can I be wrecking the kitchens when I'm right here with you, playing Inquisition?"

"There's something to be said for that...!" Without another word, he yanked up me up by my sleeve and dashed down the stairs. It was all I could do to keep my legs from buckling down and falling. "Let me go!" I yelled, but of course, he didn't listen to me.

He dragged me to the kitchens and was about to stumble through the doorway, when he stopped dead. "What now?" I sighed, peering over my shoulder at the room, "If you're going to blame this...on...me..." My voice trailed off when I registered the sight behind me.

Before I could blink, there was a delighted shriek and a figure hurled itself on me, humming tunes all the while.

"Y-you?" I asked, looking at the violet-eyed girl that had thrown her arms around me. She just smiled at me, humming happily.

"You  _know_ her?" Hakuren asked, looking at me suspiciously.

"Yeah. You could say that." I said, patting her head awkwardly, "What are you doing here?" I asked her. She shook her head and was about to open her mouth to reply, when she suddenly stiffened and cocked her head to one side.

"What's wrong?" I asked, noting the way she went rigid. She turned to look at me with large, scared eyes and whimpered pitifully. Understanding jolted through me and I said, "The one who's been wrecking the place...are they after-?"

But before I could say anything else, another shattering explosion bounded in the heart of the room, just across where the girl, Hakuren and I were standing. The ceiling trembled with the force of it, showering me in dust and soot.

"The hell?" I choked out, looking at the vortex in disbelief, cradling the terrified girl tightly in my arms. What greeted me was a sight that burned in my memory, searing away any emotion I had, until there was one left.

Fear.

Standing in the middle of the chaos was a lean, tall frame dressed in white bishop robes, slightly hunched over and leering at us maniacally, croaking, "Come, young one...I shall grant your wish."

As he came towards me, the grotesque, skeletal wings that adorned his either side, stretched towards the high, arched ceiling, brushing the rubble away from the cracks. Some of it landed on me, finally snapping me out of my trance.

"Get out of the way!" I cried, knocking Hakuren down, as a wing came down on him, swooping towards on the empty space where his neck had been.

"A Kor! How did it end up on the grounds?" He asked, bewildered.

"Never mind that! Run!" I yelled at him, as I dragged him and the girl away. The Kor gave a harsh chuckle and leapt into the air, his wings stretching fully on either side of him.

 _Crap! There's no room to confront him here!_ I thought,  _I'll get him outside!_

I led him towards the only hallway I knew; at the end of which was the huge doorway that led to the above-ground training areas. I gritted my teeth hard as I heard the rattling sound of the bony wings, and smelt the disgusting smell of rotting flesh and steamy breath. I could feel cold tendrils snake towards me as he spoke, his voice eerily dark.  
"Why run away?" The creature asked me, "Why do so when I can grant you the answers you've been looking for all this time?"

 _What?_  I stumbled as my feet slowed. My mind was incessantly telling me to run away and never look back, that it was my only chance of survival. I seemed to know what it was capable of...even if I couldn't remember _what_ it could do, the quickening of my heart and the deathly cold chill to my soul told me I was better off not knowing.

Have I encountered this thing before?

"Run!" Hakuren broke through my thoughts, grabbing my free hand again and dragging my unwilling feet along. I sucked in a shocked gasp as we raced through the corridors into the searing heat outside, stumbling with the force of his pull.

All around me I heard screams as the Kor followed us outside, calling towards us.

Us? Or me? With a start, I realized the Kor had been calling out to  _me._

_It's after me!_

"Get away from me!" I yelled, breaking away from Hakuren and the girl, running away with an extra burst of speed. From the corner of my eye, I noted that the thing had ignored them and pursued me instead, affirming my suspicion that I was its target.

 _Focus! If I know this thing, I might be able to know how to stop it!_  I wracked my brain for a possible solution, and groaned in frustration when nothing came, remaining as empty as it had been in the past few weeks...

Despair joined fear and I felt my eyes close, the black, inky darkness cutting off the ray of light...losing myself...

" _ **Your memories..."**_

_I had defeated the darkness on my own, and I felt the scars of the battle; the deep, heartbreaking pain, dissolve as I felt a smooth hand touch my cheek..._

" _Thank you so much..." She whispered, fading away to nothing. I felt my eyes grow heavy as another, stronger voice joined hers, one that sounded so much like mine..._

" _ **Please remember your precious memories..."**_

_I felt the hand clasped over the steel rod tighten and I looked deep into the shining silver metal; a long sceptre-shaped object with a cross perched upon the upright end, surrounded by an incomplete circle, three metallic rings hanging off one arm._

_The scene changed and shifted until it was dark again, but the resonance of the voices continued, calling me, beckoning me to the life I had lived before. I recognized Castor's voice among them with a start and strained to hear what the man was saying..._

" _To protect our lost lambs from the darkness and evil that taint them, we bear arms and fight. The arms we call Bascules are effective in fighting the likes of Kor and Wars."_

_Bascules? As I thought the word, the image of the sceptre appeared in my mind._

_I need a Bascules._

_I need a Bascules to fight the Kor!_

My eyes flew open and I saw the object immediately; one among the thousands strewn on the grass, glinting dully at me. I dived for it, feeling the bony spikes of the wing brush against my hair.

"Begone!" I cried, raising it in front of me, towards the Kor. I felt my breath hitch as a surge of power flowed through me, calming me, strengthening me...

" _With this power, I'll be able to stop anyone who comes after me."_

" _And...with this power...I'll never lose someone ever again."_

The Bascules glittered briefly before firing a cross-shaped beam of light directly at the Kor, as it shrieked in pain as the blazing white light touched the skin guarding the hollow of the heart underneath. With a single, dreadful shattering sound, the wings collapsed into tiny fragments leaving the body behind, gasping for breath.

I stood still, panting hard and gazing at the thing in my hand, feeling everyone's eyes on me, as I slowly straightened, looking into Hakuren and the girl's eyes, both stunning shades of amethyst, before smiling faintly at them.

"You're safe now..."

Without another word, I closed my eyes and surrendered to the jolts of pain that racked my body.

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Hm?

What was that sound? Sounds familiar...a lullaby? ...No. A song.

 _The song that haunted my dreams..._ with that realization, everything came crashing back down on me as I remembered what happened.

I jerked myself into a sitting position, rubbing my eyes furiously to clear any traces of the delirious pain. I felt something soft touch my head, probing gently at where the wound was supposed to be.

"Goodness me. You were much more active than you were yesterday." Castor noted, looking at me with a twinkle in his eye. I blinked at him, feeling a faint frown on my face.

"Castor-san? What are you doing here?"

"Someone had to step in and calm down the examinees after you fainted. I imagine single-handedly fighting a Kor and winning, and getting knocked out right after that, isn't their idea of a POA for their designated hero."

"What about Hakuren? And that girl, is she alright?"

Castor chuckled, "Quite. You did nearly scare her to death, though. You might want to avoid doing that, I'm pretty fond of her. She's still doting on you; you

might want to assure her you're alright."

I looked to my right and started to see her face, worried and scared. I sighed and was about to open my mouth, when I noticed one little detail that I missed earlier when I was talking to Castor. I was perched on the edge of the fountain, the one surrounded by many marble platforms. And she was looking at me...from underwater. From the way I was leaning over, I was able to see more than her face; she was no longer adorned in her black nun's robe, and a long fishtail rippled the water as she waved it above the surface.

I started so violently I almost fell in the river when two pairs of hands steadied me.

"Please be more careful." Labrador's voice broke through my rickety concentration and I looked up to see him standing by the girl, his face sombre.

"Um...that's..." I stuttered, finally wrenching my eyes away from her tail to the girl, "Well. You're a mermaid, huh?" I asked her in a surprisingly light tone,

"Uh...well. You make a pretty cute one, so I guess I can live with that."

The girl laughed happily, the ecstatic sound echoing underwater and making it sound like wind-chimes. I felt the heat rise to my cheeks, and said, "What's your name?"

She just looked at me and didn't answer.

"Noel mermaids can't talk. They are, however, gifted with exceptional singing voices and the ability to change their tails to legs." He turned to her, "That would explain where the clothes for my project went for the past few days. You were outside, looking for him, weren't you, Razette?"

The mermaid named Razette grinned at me adoringly and made a few playful splashes in the water.

Remembering Razette's human form made me remember everything else that happened. I felt Labrador's kind, concerned eyes on me as I looked at my throbbing palms, tracing the cuts and bruises there.

"What happened back there...what did I do?" I whispered my thought out loud, still haunted by the blinding flash of light that sliced through the Kor easily.

"You saved his life."

I looked at Labrador, who smiled kindly at me before continuing, "That Kor was on the verge of devouring that young man's body and soul for eternity. If your light hadn't saved him, he would endanger not only you, but anyone in his path."

"Kor...are the really bad creatures you said I needed to stay away from, right?" I turned to Castor, who gave a grim chuckle. I shrugged and continued, "Kor...are the creatures that ask for your soul in exchange for three wishes, right?"

The words flowed through my mouth. I had no idea where this information came from, but I knew deep down that it was-what I considered-correct.

"Once a Kor grants the third wish, your soul is eternally tainted with darkness...and you can never return to the Chief of Heaven's side from whence you came." I finished, noting the flash of surprise on both the Bishop's face.

"Correct." Castor said, fixing me with a considering look.

I gazed right back at him. "...What I did was the only way to exterminate him, right? With my...Zaiphon?"

 _Zaiphon..._ the word was rusty in my mouth.

I felt that I'd been avoiding the usage of that particular word; my body trembled with a sort of dull pain echoing with my heartbeat.

_His Zaiphon and mine; they merged together, creating an expanse of fireworks against the stark-blue sky._

_I grinned at the person by my side, his face hidden in the shadow of the sand-dune looming over his head._

_The name of the one most precious to me..._

_What was it?_

Why did those words raise a stirring of frustration and happiness in me? Who did I forget? What did I forget?

_Why...?_

I stood up. "Thank you very much. I'll...be going now."

I could still feel the bishops' kind gazes on me as I walked away.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

_**Frustration...don't understand,** _

_**Who and what you think I am,** _

_**I'm not the one you know,** _

_**I'm not the guy who you,** _

_**Let in through your door,** _

_My feet touched the icy surface of the cool, blue water that rippled at my touch, creating that beautiful, sorrowful, plaintive tone. I stared ahead as I felt the death rattle in the air with its musty, decaying breath. The wind billowed around me in a mini-tornado, encircling me in the vortex, protecting me._

_I looked towards my left and saw humans whose legs metamorphosed into tails and back, swimming by my side in the water._

_**I want to get out,** _

_**I want to stay here,** _

_**I want to be the one you wanted,** _

_**I just want to be what I've become,** _

" _Run!"_

_The voice shattered the silence, and I looked up to see Hakuren run towards me, his face contorted in anguish. He dashed a few feet more towards me, then suddenly cried out and staggered down on the water surface. With a shocked cry, I saw that his long, pale gold hair was drenched in ruby blood._

" _Hakuren!" I ran towards him, kneeling down and gripping his shoulders tightly. With a curse, I noticed that the water around him shifted and changed into liquid, sucking him into their depths._

" _Run away, now!" He ordered me, pushing me away from him._

_**Tell me how,** _

_**I can still keep moving on,** _

_**I keep getting knocked down,** _

_**Tell me why,** _

_**I'd do anything for you,** _

_**The black cat,** _

_**Who you let in from the rain,** _

_He raised his head up to look at me and instead of the calculating, sharp amethyst I'd come to recognize, I saw warm honey-brown amber. I also saw a thin, cross-shaped scar on one cheek and the messy blonde hair cropped on one side, not long and tamed in a ponytail._

_As I watched, he raised his hand, brushing against the surface of the water with a beautiful, laconic tone and touched my cheek gently._

" _Please...get away." He shuddered, closing his eyes. I felt the cold, dank air gather around us and felt the caress of rough hands that made me shiver along with him._

" _Before I kill you."_

_With those words, I felt something in me jerk involuntarily and I stumbled away from him as he gave me one last, tearful smile. Then, he drew in a deep shuddering breath and put my hand over his heart. I felt his essence die within him, as the evil drew inexorably closer towards him..._

" _Sorry. I won't be able to fulfil that promise to you, either." Those words slipped from his mouth and I felt a little shudder pass through me again as he looked at me with dark-tinged eyes._

_As he was sucked into the depths of the bottomless sea, I felt my body cripple up in rippling waves of sadness and agony._

" _Mikage!" I yelled, reaching for him-_

-And awakening to the real world to see a figure standing opposite my bed.

"Gah!" I scurried back against the head-board, as she reached for my forehead.

"I-I'm sorry!" She bowed deeply, "I...came here to clean your room. I realize it is an awkward time, but this was the only time of my shift that I was free."

I took in her nun outfit slowly, feeling my heartbeat slow. "It's ok." I took in deep breaths, "As long as you warn me next time...please don't bend over me like that."

"I apologize." She bowed low again, then paused, "...This may be none of my business, but...you were twitching and mumbling in your sleep. Were you having bad dreams, young one?"

I felt a remnant of a shiver and I shook myself. "More like a nightmare. But at least it's over now."

"On the contrary, it's just beginning for you."

Her voice had changed, and I recognized the deep, dark tone of it. Before I could react, she pulled me off the bed and pinned me against the wall with blinding speed, sneering down at me. I felt the rough touch of her bony wings as she leaned in and spoke in my ear.

"Let's see how long you plan to flutter about in your cage, Teito Klein."

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	5. Named

Ante Mortem

Chapter 4: Named

I looked at the unforgiving eyes in horror, feeling my breath rise up to mist in front of my face.

"So. It was true then. You came here to hide." The woman said quietly, gazing at me like I was a bug caught in a jar. I squirmed under the iron grip, "Let me go!" I tried to yell, but the words came out in a hoarse whisper.

She wrinkled her nose in annoyance and flared her bony wings on either side, directing them only a few inches from my sides, effectively stopping me.

"You...have quite the interesting soul." She said.

"What do you mean?"

"It's a normal human soul...but there's something about it that doesn't seem quite right. Something abnormal. It's very intriguing actually." She looked deeper into my eyes, and I peered into hers; dark-tinged and deep with the loss of humanity.

I surreptitiously looked around and saw that the door was slightly ajar; wisps of wind made the door creak softly in the silence. "And what does that have to do anything?" I asked, to keep her talking.

"That has everything to do with why you're here. I want that soul." Her tone had gone from that of a curious child to a sadistic torturer as she drew the knife on her prisoner, "My master would rejoice if I brought you back with me. He would reward me with a better, stronger form...then, I would be able to fly in the shadowy skies without fear. From you, or your precious bishops." She looked towards the entrance and her eyes widened as she took in the small gap between the frame and door...

In that small instant, I felt panic grip me as she saw the only escape route I had. The panic that pumped through my frenzied heart and travelled through my body until it transformed into something else...something warm and powerful. It flowed through my chest to my arms and I sucked in a gasp as they began to glow with my new-found power...

I hurtled the Zaiphon at her and ducked as she shrieked, drawing her wings around her for protection. The ball of blue energy dissipated harmlessly as it hit the bony cage around her, and I made a dash for the doorway.

"Puny human! You mean to escape me?" She cackled, as she flew after me. I gritted my teeth against the harsh sound of bones against air and concentrated on the task.

I needed to lure the Kor outside, so I can fight it there. But...I can't do that unless I have a Bascules. Where am I going to get one at this time?

_Damn it...at this rate, all she'll have to do is wait till I get tired out, so she can catch me again. What should I do?_

I ran towards the courtyard by the fountains, ripping my sleeves on the thorns of the bushes; burrowing myself in the core of the emerald sea that swamped the back lands of the church.

I burrowed underneath the foliage, flinching as the thorns cut through my skin.

"You won't escape." Her words were spoken quietly to thin air, yet I felt them fall flat on my form, making me feel exposed, vulnerable.

Alone.

 _Help me..._ the words were rusty. Unused. Stuck in my throat, they reverberated in my head, screaming for escape.

I could not...would not...obey.

My head swirled sickeningly and I felt myself pulled towards the darkness in my mind; the one that I consciously shied away from, but in truth, deep down in the locked heart of the person I was beginning to understand...I called to it, welcomed it, treasured it.

_Who am I?_

_Rushing across the desert savannah, I feel the heat scorching the heels of my feet. I grit my teeth and keep moving on, looking for him._

He's not there. I'm not there. I'm here fighting the Kor! I can't drift off now! I need to fight...

" _Mikage!"  
_

_The bellow erupted from my lungs, and I vaguely felt shock at the way it carried on this dry, barren, godforsaken landscape. I kicked apart the sand at my feet and gnashed my teeth against my cheek, feeling the hot blood flow against my tongue._

_A looming shadow against the sand dunes caught my eye and I saw several shacks, broken-down and withering away. Abandoned? Maybe. Armed? Maybe._

_But I didn't care._

_Breaking the shack doors' hinges noiselessly was an easy matter for me._

_Finding him was another matter entirely._

" _Mikage...where are you?"_

_Tear it down. Tear it all down. Blood pounded in my ears, blocking out all sane thought. I wanted to destroy every square inch of the wood, to wipe out the blot on the desert. Something, anything, to wipe away the feelings pounding through my being..._

_I felt a hand clap itself on my shoulder. "Good evening, my ever-disappearing "Master"."_

_Ok. This is too much, even for him._

_Without another word, I spun around and whammed him on the jawbone with a punch. In his defence, he really didn't see it coming.  
_

" _Owow...!" He yelled, flung back into a sitting position on the tiled floor. "What'd you do that for?"_

_I stared at Mikage. For Kami's sake, I'd been searching the whole desert for him and here he was, grinning like a fool, acting like everything was normal!_

" _Mikage..." I was not at all surprised to hear my tone seeped with anger. He stopped groaning and started fiddling with his button-hole._

" _I know it's...well...it's a bit awkward...haha." He laughed nervously, as he surveyed the scene before us, "But...here I am."_

" _In the middle of the Biker's Den." My voice was clipped. He noticed it too and winced when he looked at me. "And if that wasn't enough, you're also in the most dangerous part of the District. Do you know what kind of hells I had to go through to get here?"_

_He was quiet for sometime. Then, hesitatingly, he said, "I'm sorry."_

" _You damn well should be." I rubbed my eyes, willing myself to be calm._

" _I'm sorry I scared you so much."  
_

 _S-scared_ me _?_

" _What do you mean_ me _? You might've scared your mother to death! And you can very well imagine what Tajio might've done if I didn't come along and ask what happened! He's afraid. They all are!"_

" _So were you."_

" _Look, we have no time to waste. We have to get out of here, now." I pinched my nose with my forefinger and thumb, trying to calm down._

" _Yeah." He looked at me seriously, "Let's go, Teito."_

We have to get out of here...? I have to get out of there...?

I have to escape. But not from the bikers that threatened him...Mikage. I have to escape from...

A frustrated shriek, more animal than human, broke through my trance, and I opened my eyes in shock to see the Kor glide directly over the spot where I was hiding.

Before the thought to run trickled through my drowsy consciousness, she flew straight towards the east. "Do you think a foolish youth such as you would ever be a match for an Ancient?" She yelled over her shoulder. Next moment, a dark-robed figure leapt after her, wielding a monstrously large, dark scythe in his right hand. Even from my vantage point far below the scene, I was able to make out his grim sneer and the cold look in his eyes.

"May God be with you." He said, raising the scythe over his head, where it seemed to stretch, willing itself towards the bony wings of the Kor.

With a loud crunch, the scythe broke the wings of the Kor, who gave out a terrible scream of pain before falling towards the earth.

I sprung up from my hiding place, ignoring the tearing sound of fabric, ran up to them and caught her; shielding her with my body against the impact of the crash.

"Ugh..." I groaned, arms splayed over as I landed on a large mound of earth. I was able to raise my head enough to see the nun who had attacked me; she now lay still in my arms, mumbling a little like a frightened child haunted by a nightmare.

My head cleared enough, by this time, to remember the other stranger who stopped the Kor and I looked blearily towards the sky, feeling a faint sliver of surprise pass through me when I couldn't spot him anywhere. He'd vanished?

"Who...was that person?" I thought out loud, pulling myself up into a sitting position, "And how did he...how did he stop her?"

"I'll be happy to enlighten you," A muffled voice said from somewhere below me, "if you'd get your hand off my face, kid."

I looked down in shock and saw that, what I'd taken as a mound of earth was actually a sprawled figure below me, back facing towards the ground, his icy glare directed right at me.

I let out a shocked squawk, and scrambled off the disgruntled man, taking care to support the nun with both arms. He raised an eyebrow and looked at me appraisingly.

"Huh. You're a lot more energetic than the last time I saw you." He commented, getting up and dusting off his travel-worn dark blue cloak and black pants.

_The last time he saw me...?_

_...Do I know him from somewhere?_ I noticed that his features were somewhat familiar; he had golden-blonde hair spiked at curiously odd angles, a narrow, sharply-defined face and an impossibly tall, lean and (from what I saw through the plunging neckline of his cloak) well-built figure. But the most impressive ( _and intimidating,_ I grudgingly admitted to myself) thing about the man was the eyes which were a cool, gentle blue bordering on the edge of light purple and a dark navy shade. He seemed to stare right through me and glean into the parts of my soul which I was just beginning to understand...

I quickly wrenched my eyes away from his and focused on trying to carry the woman off the ground. Unfortunately, I just stumbled upon another lesson learnt the hard way; when you're extremely sleep-deprived, moody and exhausted from being chased by a familiar of darkness that tries to drag your soul to Hell, your strength might be a  _little_ off. I tried to lift her up and was nearly knocked over backwards by the excess weight, when a gloved hand steadied me.

"Stubborn, aren't you?" The man asked, raising an eyebrow at me. Before I could say one more word, he flung me over his shoulder like a sack of rice, proceeded to carry the woman in his arms and marched back towards the church with a purposeful air.

I felt the impact knock the wind out of me and hissed in surprise when I felt his arm hold me steady on my legs. "Let me go!" I yelled again, sick of being treated like a weak, five-year old, "How dare you just go and pick me up!"

"Shut up. You're annoying, damned brat." He retorted, almost lazily. I pounded my fists against his back and started a bit at the thuds they made; hitting the man was like punching a block of stone. He didn't seem the least bit bothered by my actions either.

That, more than anything else, pissed me off completely.

"I'm not a brat!" I continued my relentless pounding, even more infuriated when he still didn't respond, "And  _you're_ the one annoying me, you pervert! Put me down! I can carry her myself."

"Oh, yeah. I just witnessed your display of strength in the courtyard." He craned his neck and grinned cockily at me, "You could put a ten-year old to shame. I'm impressed."

I reddened at that comment and glared at him furiously, "You're going to wish you never said that when I get 8 solid hours of sleep, you damned..."

"Are you kidding me? You already slept uninterrupted for 48 hours straight, you know. You even made Labrador contemplate the decision to stop pruning the plants half-way and check up on you."

At this, I stopped struggling. Now that I thought about it, I'd been asleep before I even hit the pillows. And according to Hakuren and Mr tall-dark-and-paedophilic-knight-in-shining-armour here, I've been dead to the world for two days. And right after I had that memory, I feel so tired I could barely stand...

"Who are you, anyway?" I mumbled, feeling my eyes grow heavy.

"Someone who helped you. Call me your hero if you will." He chortled.

"No, you moron." I muttered stubbornly, "I mean...why did you help me? Why are you all helping me? You have no idea who I am...or who I was, at any rate."

"Well, you don't know who we are either."

"I know who Castor-san and Labrador-san are, it's only you that's pretty much a stranger to me."

For some reason, that seemed to annoy him. "No, brat, I mean that you don't know who we  _are_. Let's put it that way and leave it at that."

"Would damned perverted maniac be accurate enough?" By this time, my words were slurred, mixing with my breath as I felt sleep take over. I had just enough energy to listen to his response, before I drifted into sweet, blessed sleep.

"That's not even the half of what I can do, kid. Not even close."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The relentless chirping of the sparrows perched near the glass walls was the first sound I heard when I woke up. I groaned and rolled to the side, rubbing my eyes tiredly. It was so comfortable, so peaceful.

The warmth wrapped around me in a gentle embrace, soothing my aching limbs. I stretched a little and groaned when I felt the stinging pierce through the protective warmth, dulled but present. I winced at the pain.

Pain...

The pain brought clarity to my drowsy mind and with the clarity came the memory...

My eyes shot open and I sat up abruptly, swaying a little when the vertigo caught up with me.

"You're awake." The blonde man stood by the doorway, scrutinizing me over his cigarette. "What are you doing here?" I shot back.

"That should be my question, damned brat."

"I'm  _not_ a brat!" I growled at him, "Now get the hell out of here or-!"

"Why?" He asked, in an almost childish tone, "I've been gone for two weeks and I come back to find that I can't even stay in my own room anymore?"

"Your room...wait, what?"

I'd been staying in this guy's room for the past two weeks?

I took a look at the bed and gagged involuntarily as I felt an uncomfortable warmth surge to my cheeks.

Ok. Calm down. Deep breaths. Remember those breathing exercises Labrador-san taught me...

I'd just been borrowing his room, while he was off...doing whatever he was off to do. Nothing more. It wasn't even my fault I was stuck with his room; I am a runaway amnesiac for God's sake, I really can't afford to be picky about my lodgings. So what if I'd been... _unknowingly_ sleeping on his bed?

For some reason, that made me extremely embarrassed; I cleared my throat as a distraction from the rising heat in my cheeks and gazed back at him. "S-sorry." I muttered, hastily getting off the bed, "Um...I'd better go...since, you're back here."

"That is a good idea." He nodded, "We need to find decent quarters for you to sleep in. But," He added, taking in my appearance, "...we might need to fix you up a bit first."

I looked down and with a start, saw shapeless dark blue fabric draped around my body; the collar of the coat reached up to my forehead and the tail trailed behind me on the marble floor. Underneath the coat, my clothes were tattered and, in some places, stained with crimson blood.

I looked up just in time to see him fling a paper parcel at me; my hand flicked outward and caught it.

"Go take a shower and wear those." He instructed, shuffling outside.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Unlike some people, I have a busy schedule ahead of me. I'm going to Mass...you can attend it if you like. It's in the sanctuary hall."

"You said it was dangerous..."

"It was dangerous  _then._ Not now, not when we've erected the barrier around the church again. And besides," He added, cocky grin fixed back in place, "I think you should know by now that I can handle a Kor. But wait," he paused, cocking his head on one side, "are you actually worried about me, brat?"

"As if! I just have enough on my plate without having to worry about another Kor attacking me."

He laughed.

"How  _did_ you stop her anyway?" I asked, frowning, "You didn't use a Bascules."

"I have my reasons." With that, he sauntered out.

 _Apparently, he's not the type to cut straight to the point._ I frowned and stomped to the bathroom. Five minutes later, I stepped outside, walking along the main passageway towards the sanctuary.

 _So, there've been two attacks on the church, both of them Kor. By the sound of it, that's not normal; they hadn't raised the barrier until_ after  _they heard about the second attack. And they weren't random attacks either; the Kor were after me._

" _My master would rejoice if I brought you back with me..."_ That's what the Kor said.

_Who is the master? Have I angered him in some way...is it my fault that the attacks are happening?  
If that's the case...am I putting everyone in danger?_

I rubbed my eyes wearily. I was thinking way too into this.

Soft, wistful music resonated off the marble corridors, echoing from the sanctuary halls. I peered inside the doorway and saw a vast, sunlit room filled with throngs of people singing along with the organ music. Nuns and bishops bowed their hands, hands clasped. Praying for the blessings of the day.

A few bishops stood near a man whose white robes were somewhat different from the others and with a faint start, I saw a familiar gentle face bowed respectfully over the tree sapling in his hands. At his side was a chestnut-haired man who looked far from calm; he kept twitching and shooting looks behind his glasses at a tall blonde, whose trademark grin was visible even from this distance.

I blanched. I expected Labrador-san and Castor-san to be there, but that damned arrogant jerk was a  _bishop_?

 _Well,_ I huffed,  _That would explain his lodgings here._

"Little Lamb?" I looked around and saw Rosalie smile at me. "I heard that you were feeling unwell recently. How are you now?"

"I...I don't know." I admitted.

She looked at me thoughtfully. "...Are your wounds healed?"

I touched the back of my head gently. "Yes. To some extent." I replied.

She nodded, "Good. Oh by the way, Castor-san was looking for you. He wanted to talk to you regarding your lodging issues." I stifled a grimace at the memory of this morning and grinned back at the nun. "Ok. Thanks."

"You're welcome, young one."

"Um...Sister Rosalie?" I called after her. She turned around. "It's Teito." I continued, "Teito Klein."  
She stared at me for a moment, before smiling kindly at me.

"You're welcome, Teito-san."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Normal POV:

"Che. Mass seemed even more dull than usual today."

"It would do you well to remember that it's one of our duties as a bishop, Frau." Castor said, frowning at the blonde bishop. Labrador just grinned impishly at the two. "Take it easy, Castor. It's barely been a day that Frau's been back."

"And in that short lapse of time, I've been bruised, battered and shouted at by a little runt with a lot of attitude." Frau muttered. "Speaking of which," Castor looked at Labrador, before continuing, "Lab's been feeling a bit strange lately."

Frau turned to look at the violet-haired bishop and saw behind the transparent veil, the tell-tale grey shadows in his clear mauve eyes. He narrowed his eyes, "...It's about  _that_  again, right?"

"Yes." Labrador took in a deep breath and continued, "But it's incomplete. I can't really see what's going to happen next until one more decision is made."

"...Whose?"

"I don't know. But I do know this." Labrador's gaze turned sharp as he assessed Frau, "The minute you took the decision to save that boy's life, the wheels were set in motion."

"In other words, the boy is a major factor in the making of the decision." Castor inserted.

Frau remained silent for some time. Finally, he whispered, "...You want me to keep an eye on him, don't you?"

"Seeing as you've already bonded with him so well, you should be well suited for the job." Castor grinned at the now-bristling bishop, "Calm down, Frau. It's only until the decision is made. And usually, Lab's predictions come true in due time."  
Frau sighed, "Fine. You owe me big-time, Glasses."

Labrador had turned towards the flowers during the whole exchange. Now, he spoke up. "I think you should start right now, Frau."  
Frau raised an eyebrow, "And why's that?"

Labrador turned towards them, with bright eyes and a determined grin.

"Because Teito-kun's on the move."

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	6. Haunted

Ante Mortem

Chapter 5: Haunted

_Scrape, scrape, scrape._

_I felt the grainy sand rub against my palm, tracing the curved lines in the cold concrete. The sound was soft against the constant rattling of steel chains that grated in my ears as I shivered in the cold night._

_I looked out through the rusty bars and saw nothing but dark night sky, interrupted only by tiny, shimmering dots. Stars that light up the night sky._

_Many people believe that stars represent new hope in the darkest life. That they represented events, objects and even people._

_I looked at the blood-coated shackles binding my legs and arms and felt a grim smile tug at my lips._

_If that was the case, what hope do I have left to live for?  
_

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- x-x

Frau:

"Where the heck is that damn brat?" I muttered, as I passed the training halls. Several students stared at me curiously, but I ignored all of them and peered in the next doorway.

_Empty again._

"At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if he was some kind of escape artist before he landed here." I mused out loud, continuing on. It was all well and good for Glasses to keep an eye on the brat...Teito, but I needed to find him first. I hadn't seen hide nor hair of him since he woke up today and it was starting to worry me a little.

"Frau-sama?" A soft voice called. I looked back to see Sister Rosalie walk up to me, "Oh! Welcome back! Are you looking for something?"

"Looking for someone, actually." I said, turning on my ladies' man smile. Might as well make use of the distraction. "You aren't the person I'm looking for, but I guess you'll-OW!" I was cut off by a swift chop to the head and looked back just in time to see a flurry of black robes and violet hair before she disappeared. "Are you ok?" Rosalie asked, concerned.

"Fine, fine." Damn that doll-maniac! I gritted my teeth and rubbed my hand tentatively against my throbbing head.

"You said you were looking for someone." Rosalie looked thoughtful now, "Were you by chance, looking for Teito-san?"

I stopped rubbing my head. "You saw him? Where did he disappear to?"

"Hmm...last I saw him, he was headed towards the fountain, near the courtyard."

"Thanks." I set off for the place now, deep in thought.

_The fountain, huh...if I remember correctly, the courtyard behind that is the shortest way to reach the stairs to the gate. If he was aware of that..._

I felt a deliberate, cool mist against my face and looked up to see the fountain come in view, along with a familiar girl perched on the edge, splashing her hands against the water. As if sensing my irritation, Lazette looked right at me. She cocked her head to one side, reading my expression and pointed one webbed finger at the bushes with a knowing look.

"He's there? What's he doing?"

She merely hummed a tune, playing with the water in her hands.

I stifled a sigh of irritation and peered through the spot she pointed at. The green foliage appeared impenetrable, but on closer inspection I noticed a few broken branches and a small hole covered up by the thick leaves on the surface.

I felt my way through the hole and peered through, pulling off the thorny branches that clung to my bishops' robe irritably. "Oi, brat. It's about time for lunch, so would ya mind...?"

I stopped when I realized what I was looking at.

I was standing in a shadowy part of the garden, where the sun rays strained to light the withering grass. Dark green creeper vines snaked up the long, depilated pillar, once graceful and arched, and now crumbling to pieces. It trembled in the slight wind, dust spilling over in soft layers over brown hair that hung over his knees.

The kid was oblivious to my presence; he's curled himself up into a ball, as if protecting himself from the world outside his head. He was shivering, breathing heavily, hands pulling at his snow-white cloak that covered him. The little of the kid's pale face that could be seen was illuminated by a trail of tears.

"Mikage..." Teito croaked hoarsely, "Please...no..."

I shifted slightly, wincing a little when the bushes rustled behind me. Teito froze abruptly; his head snapped up, startled eyes blazed into mine.

"You! What are you doing here?" He snarled, scrambling to his feet. "I  _was_ here to remind you to be there for lunch-time." I stated, raising an eyebrow at the teen's furious face, "But now, I'm starting to regret being so considerate."  
He scowled heavily at me. "I don't need your consideration!" He snapped, stomping past me. I stepped out of the way before he had a chance to knock me over. He stopped before he lowered himself down to crawl his way out, and glared over his shoulder.

Though, something told me he wouldn't have minded that much.

_Looks like I have my work cut out for me._

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- x

Teito:

" _ **Show no mercy, Teito."**_

_I slowly took a step back and leaned forwards, arms positioned outwards at either side, bracing my feet apart. Facing the lithe, lean form in front of me, who stood tall and upright, one hand raised in front._

_It was so long since I'd used this stance._

_It was so long since I'd felt the need to_ use  _this stance._

" _ **That could be seen as a sign on weakness!"**_

_Without warning, he leapt forwards, gliding effortlessly on the marble floors, reaching for my throat. The hand that stretched towards me was now pale in the glow of blue energy crackling around his fingertips..._

_I slid to the side at the last minute, narrowly avoiding the spear of Zaiphon he threw at me and leapt up in the air. He just bounded back off the walls and leapt up after me, slashing at me again._

_And again, I dodged._

_He just stared at me with strong, defiant eyes, as we floated weightlessly in the air, hovering just a few feet away from each other. In that small space of time, I tore my eyes away from his just in time to see a hand draw into his back, curling its thin fingers..._

_I pushed the air underneath me with my own Zaiphon to dodge the lightning-fast flash that he threw at me. The powerful blast hurled itself into the wall and embedded inside the granite, like a century-old engraving._

_He floundered for a minute, before whirling around...and freezing abruptly to avoid his skin touching the collar of Zaiphon I'd wound around his neck._

" _...M-mommy! I give up!" Mikage choked out in terror. I rolled my eyes, but gestured and broke the shock collar, letting him fall towards the floor._

" _You've been practicing more than usual." I commented, as he landed sprightly on his feet, looking back at me, "So, this is what you've been doing when you sneak out every other night. I was getting worried there."_

" _W-what?" He sputtered, turning bright red, "What do you mean? You've been spying on me?"_

" _You make an excellent fighter. But remind me not to take you on any raids anytime soon." I replied, raising an eyebrow, "The noise was so much, you woke me up and I was in the room on the other side of the house."_

" _You're harsh."_

" _I'm honest."_

" _Touché." He was grinning at me now, "But you really think I'm getting better?"_

" _Like I said before, I'm honest." I shrugged._

" _But, I'll never be anything like you." Mikage was looking at his own hands now, "You're amazing when it comes to fighting techniques, and you're almost invincible when it comes to speed. There isn't anyone who can beat you out there."_

_If only you knew._

_If only you knew, Mikage._

I felt the desert heat recoil from my skin, replaced by gentle tendrils of cool, misty air. I sucked in a deep breath, opened my eyes...and fell backwards with a bang.

It turned out to be more painful than I expected, because I was leaning on a very sharp-edged oak desk that struck my back. Hard.

It also turned out to be very noisy, because right then, I heard the door open and a sharp intake of breath. A few minutes later, a blue-gloved hand entered my line of vision.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah..." I rubbed my head and looked up to see...the girl's face so close to mine, it was almost nose-to-nose.

"Oh. You've met my latest creation, I see." Castor said, helping me up. I gaped at him, "You mean...she's...?"

"Yes, she's one of my masterpieces. No, rather," He added, "She's the embodiment of my love."

"Huh."

"I thought you were...keeping an eye on things." He was talking to the doll now. She nodded and proceeded to walk out of the doorway. "So, you make dolls?" I asked him curiously. The Bishop motioned for me to sit on the chair near the desk, before replying, "Yes. In my spare time, whenever I can. It was a childhood dream of mine to travel the world as a master puppeteer. Before I came here, that is."

"If it was a dream of yours to travel the world..." I couldn't help asking, "then, why did you settle for being a bishop, instead?"

For a while, Castor didn't answer me and I wondered whether I'd touched a sore subject. "Um...you don't have to answer-"

"Sometimes," He cut me off, "there will come a time when you are faced with difficult choices. And...you can only choose one."

His voice had grown soft towards the end and I had to really strain to catch the words. Then, he smiled at me, "Although, it's not like I've really given up on the dream. I can still create and manipulate dolls like a real puppeteer and I occasionally get to travel the world because I'm a bishop."

"Your dream found you eventually." It was strange. Even though, it had nothing to do with me, I still felt glad that he managed to achieve what he wanted. At the same time though, I felt a slight pang and an upsurge of resent through me.

Resent? Illogical as it was, I was envious of Castor. He had-and even achieved-his dream. Mine...I didn't even know what mine was.

Did I?

Suddenly, I felt a slight stirring sensation in my head. My vision slowly, inexorably, started clouding over and started pricking with dry tears. I cursed, when I recognized the all-too-familiar sensations and stood up abruptly.

"I'm sorry, but I have to leave, Castor-san." I managed to choke out, walking out of the room as fast as I could without actually running.

 _God damn it!_ I clutched my hair, as I felt the throbbing increase in time with my footsteps. I could barely do more than breathe; the white-hot blood in my head made it impossible to think.

I could only count down the seconds until unconsciousness claimed me, hating every second that prolonged the soothing feeling of ice that sleep brought me.

_I stared at the cold-iron bedpost, as I felt the slow, ravenous anger rise within me._

_By all rights, it should remain as nothing more than a metallic puddle, if the force of my glare was anything to come by. I refused to look anywhere near the doorway, or the figure that stood near it._

_Mikage threw me a withering look and strolled easily inside the room, stopping just a few feet from my bed. He sank into the stiff-backed armchair and folded his arms, staring intently at me._

_Finally, I broke the silence. "Why are you here?" I asked, curtly, "My shift has passed. I must sleep."_

" _I'm here to talk to you." He replied, just as stubbornly._

" _I am forbidden to talk to you, as my master implied today afternoon."_

" _I want to talk to Teito Klein, the boy, and not the slave." He pointed out._

" _And I do not have any intention of talking to you." I replied testily. I was tired from the long summer day; even though I barely got any sleep, shortly after I rescued Mikage from the Bikers, I had to carry out all my usual tasks. I couldn't take the day off; Kurena was not feeling well and Tajio had to accompany my master to the next town._

" _Fine. Then, let me say this." He took in a deep breath before continuing, "Thank you. Thank you so much. You saved my life, Teito; no matter how much uncle protested vehemently, I was the one who should be blamed. I was the gullible idiot they lulled there, after all."_

_I shifted uncomfortably, "I only did what I was ordered to do. Nothing more."_

_"When everyone else in the house was fast asleep?" Mikage asked sceptically, "Don't lie. Tajio told me; you rushed after me back there without anyone knowing. The only reason he knew in the first place was because he met you on the village roads when you were headed off into the desert."_

_I flushed darkly. Tajio was a good kid, but his mouth hung loose on its hinges. Could never keep his mouth shut when he needed to. I need to talk with him, and soon._

" _I did what I had to."_

" _A simple 'you're welcome' would have sufficed." There were traces of a grin in his voice now. I glared at him directly now, "You're welcome,_ Aruji." **[1]**

" _Mikage." He said, smirk wiped off his face._

" _Aruji." I said, pronouncing each syllable separately, just to wind him up a little._

" _Aruji says to call me_ Mikage _." I gritted my teeth; he had me at that. "Fine. You're welcome...Mikage."_

" _Still as grumpy as ever, huh? When are you going to change?" He ruffled my hair tenderly, "Still the little kid I found a year ago."  
_

" _I am not a little kid." I grumbled, but I made no attempt to swipe his hand away, "I'm 15, just so you know. Your age, Mikage." That grin grew even more pronounced, until it was virtually impossible to see the thin, cross-shaped scar on his right cheek, "Now, who said I was talking about age?"_

_I just collapsed against the bed, too worn out to argue further. He got up and stretched, "Anyway. I'll see you at training practice tomorrow."_

" _Yeah." I mumbled against the cool softness of the pillow, "...Mikage?"_

" _Hm? What is it?"_

" _...Nah. It's nothing."_

_No-one's ever asked me to call them by name before. Why should they, since I'm a mere sklave?_

_No-one would ever want to be friends with me._

_No-one...except Mikage._ _**[2]** _

_Why?_

I clutched my head, biting my tongue to keep from screaming in pain. The taste of cold blood woke me for a few moments and I saw a figure in black and gold uniform stand a few feet away from me. I tried to speak, but I felt myself drawn towards the darkness again...

_As I slept, I dreamed._

_In my dream, I was standing on a lumpy mound of soft mud, glaring coldly at two strangers in the distance. One wore the decorations and the cap of an army general, the other, older and slightly hunched, in his formal clothes._

_I felt the bile rise in my throat as I noticed what they were standing on; bodies upon bodies of men, women and children of all ages, piled upon themselves to form a grotesque raised platform for them to stand on._

_Red. There was so much red..._

_It covered my clothes and through it, my skin. It covered the whole battlefield._

_But most of all, it covered the man who bowed before me, his whole body shaking with pain. He whimpered when my eyes met his; the frightened, feral eyes of an animal._

" _ **Don't show any mercy."**_

_I looked at my hands, sheathed with leather gloves that reached to my elbow, adorned with two, curved blades. They were decorated with ruby blood. The same blood as the one leaking from the man's body._

_I looked at the man one final time, before whispering under my breath to him. His eyes widened in shock at first, then in sadness and finally, deep, dark fear._

_And I lowered my blade on his bowed head._

I cried out in pain as something sharp hit my head and my eyes flew open to stare blearily at the form before me. I saw a blur of black and gold before the person lifted me by the neck.

"A pity." The voice said as I gnashed my teeth against the pain, "I expected you to be much more of a challenge."

"You're the ones after me..." I managed to say between the pain. He seemed to sneer at me, before driving me against the wall. I scratched at his hands weakly, in a futile attempt to loosen his grip.

"Why?" I asked him, blinking my eyes in an attempt to clear my eyes. My vision shifted slightly, and I saw crimson eyes stare at me coldly over the gloved hand.

"It's no use trying to play dunce." The cold voice replied, "You know full well why we're after you."

"No, I don't..."

"Did you really believe it would be so easy trying to escape me?" The voice grated in my ear, "You can never escape from the future that awaits you, Teito Klein."

My breath came out in loud gasps as the pressure tightened.

 _Pain...so much pain..._ My head reeled as my lungs cried for air.

_Stop..._

The grip on my neck suddenly loosened and I pulled away from the hand, sinking to the floor.

"What?" The person cried as he leaped away to avoid a scythe that came crashing down on him. I threw my arm over my eyes to block the dust that flew towards me.

"W-what...?" I coughed, squinting through the dust.

A tall figure in tattered robes stood where my attacker was before, back turned towards me. Underneath the robes, one hand clutched the long scythe handle that cut between us.

"How presumptuous." The attacker stated, glaring at the robed figure coldly, "You mean to stop me?"

The figure did not reply, but he drew in the scythe and positioned it, blade outwards, near me.

My attacker whipped his hands out in a movement so fast, it was almost blinding, unleashing a storm fury of angry red Zaiphon. The robed figure tensed, but the Zaiphon bypassed him and headed straight for me...

The robed figure lashed out at the attacker with the scythe. With a loud clang, the scythe clattered against the stone floors.

He was gone.

Gone.

I slumped against the wall in utter relief, closing my eyes and giving myself to the pain. As I fell, I was aware of cool, long fingers touching the side of my face gently.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

**[1] Aruji-An old-fashioned Japanese term, which means "Master". In the anime, Mikhail is the only one that uses it.**

**[2] Name usage-Normally in Japan, you usually address boys of the same age with the suffix "-kun" at the end. Towards strangers, you use "-san".**


	7. Decided

Ante Mortem

Chapter 6: Decided

Frau:

I glared towards the tops of the tall buildings, as they burned bright white in the heat of the sun, ignoring the two pairs of eyes directed at my back.

Of course, they didn't leave me be. Hardly. I'd hardly seen a more annoyingly perceptive person than Glasses. He'd known exactly what was irritating me and came up here to check.

As for Lab, well...the thing that really pissed me off even more now was that his worry was genuine. And I couldn't really rebuke him for that now, can I?

That'd be as heartless as hitting a puppy. And what kind of bastard hit puppies?

"Glasses" finally spoke up, in a very amused voice. "And just how much longer are you going to stay up here, Frau?"

I ignored him, idly watching the procession through the town. The people had clamoured over to the middle of the square excitedly, as a portly man stepped out of his carriage in a highly dignified air and proceeded straight towards the trailer that followed behind his vehicle.

When a voice spoke up behind me again, it wasn't Castor. "I...assume that Teito-kun is alright...is he?" Labrador asked anxiously.

I squinted harder at the portly man, trying to ignore both of them at the same time.

A single finger-snap broke the silence. My eyes widened as the implication of the sound finally registered. Before I could even move, I was knocked off my feet and wrapped in a choke-hold around my neck.

"Isn't this a bit much?" I sputtered, glaring up at the two. The smile on Castor's face had gained a very creepy edge. "I don't like being ignored." He informed me, "Now, what happened between you and Teito?"

I pursed my lips and didn't answer.

"Frau...it might be in your best interests if you answer him. While you still have the chance, that is." Labrador informed me, "And I don't have to be psychic to see that."

"...We had a...bit of a quarrel." I muttered, concentrating mainly on trying to breathe through the obstruction in my wind-pipe.

"You'll have to elaborate that." I gagged as the choke-hold tightened, echoing the annoyed undercurrent in his still-pleasant voice.

"The brat had woken up in the morning." I pulled at the strangle-hold, relieved when it relaxed enough for me to yank myself free, "I'd told him to come to mass, but he never showed him up. Then, I saw him in the courtyard...and he'd been unwilling to come back for lunch-time." I'd edited out the kid's crying-fit. Something told me it wouldn't go down to well with Teito if he found out I told anyone else, and I was getting extremely tired of being in everybody's shit list.

"One thing led to another and he stomped off. Again. And I went looking for him, found him in the corridor next to the training halls." My tone had darkened considerably here.

"Frau?"

"Castor, when we found him the other day...the kid was in such bad shape, I thought he'd never wake up again. But he survived, and...apparently the people after him are trying to finish the job once and for all."

"What are you talking about?"

"There was someone after him. They cornered him...when I heard their approach, I came as fast as I could. It was a miracle, the kid was completely unharmed." I paused for a minute, before adding, "But he was whimpering the whole way back. He was damn scared of that person...I'm sure of it."

An uneasy silence filled the air, and I felt the slow drag of each second struggle by.

Castor finally spoke up. "This is serious. Now we truly know that Teito-kun's accident was actually an attempt on his life; he was running away from his pursuers. Now that they've found him, he's in danger again...even more so, since he apparently lost his memory."

"Maybe not all of it." Those words shot out of my mouth before I could shut it completely. They appeared to float in the heavy silence between us.

"...What do you mean?" Damn it. The dangerous undertone is back.

"Well...when I carried the kid back...he kept muttering one name. "Mikage." It might be a name of someone he'd known from the past."

"I see." I turned back to the procession when I heard the excited yells of the townsfolk; the portly man had opened his carriage and galloping out towards the watery sunlight, in all their glory, was a pack of white stallions, tossing their heads around and whinnying loudly.

Typical. One of the more extravagant gifts for the Angel's Eye.

"Frau, where is Teito now?"

I winced. "That's I wanted to talk to you about. See, when I brought the kid back to my room...he'd woken up in half an hour. He'd asked me-" Demanded, more like it, "-why he was back in there andI informed him that since there were no more rooms available in the Church, he was stuck with me. He didn't take it so well."

That was the understatement of the century. More like he flew out of the bed in a proper hissy fit and lunged right at me. I had to physically drag him off me, when he finally snapped and stomped out of the room, muttering words like  _pervert_ and _paedophile._

Oh, the kid really warmed up to me alright. Sigh.

 _You have to admit,_ a voice in my mind said,  _he had a good reason for doing that, especially with the uncaring bastard profile you were emanating._

"Am I to take it that you don't know where Teito is?" Castor's eyebrow was definitely twitching now. Labrador eyed his friend and took a few steps back, still smiling.

"I was looking for him until Labrador sent for me."

Castor pinched the bridge of his nose with his forefinger and thumb, taking deep breaths. When he opened his eyes again, he was calm.

"I'm sorry." He said wearily, "Things have gotten even more busy around the castle these days, what with the upcoming festival and Baptism ceremony. The church acolytes are shuffling back and forth and with the unusually large size of this year's batch, it's been almost impossible to keep up with all of them. And now this."

"Forget it." I replied, noting his haggard frame; the weariness seemed to bear down unmercifully on his shoulders, "I'll take care of the brat. You and Labrador get everything done."

"Yes. That would be best. However, it would do you good if you showed up for tomorrow's mass this time. Archbishop Jio was extremely livid when you failed to arrive yesterday." He attempted a weak sort of grin.

"I was off saving a poor, helpless soul; can't he at least give me off for that?"

"Frau..."

"Fine." I huffed, "But he better leave me off for the rest of the day today. Labrador...?"

"Already taken care of, Frau. I notified Archbishop Jio just before the meeting." The bishop's mauve eyes twinkled lightly, "Go on. Find Teito-kun. I'd suggest going to the fountain; he would talk to Lazette if not anyone else."

I nodded and walked away, feeling their gazes bore down on my back again.

What is with people and their mood-swings lately? The worst part is that I'm usually the one on the receiving end of their wrath.

 _Not that you don't deserve it..._ the traitorous voice whispered again. I growled and was giving the voice in my head a lecture about shutting up for its benefit and mine, when I heard a voice drift over by the fountain.

"What's that?" Teito asked the violet-haired girl perched on the fountain. The brat was pointing to a creeper growing out of the cracks of the walls. Perched on the very end of the creeper was a single white flower, lace-trimmed around the edges.

Lazette splashed her aquamarine-green tail in the water and looked at the flower curiously. She pointed to it, making several vague gestures and humming along. The only problem about having a Noel Mermaid as a friend is that she isn't able to carry a conversation, and most of the time people can't really understand her. However, Teito understood just fine.

"It's a special flower?" He repeated, cocking his head at it, "To alleviate the suffering of the dead and ease the pain of the living, huh..." He was quiet for a minute, then he smiled at the mermaid.

"Sorry. Um..."He looked around and spotted something else, "...What's that?"

He walked over to the fountain edge and peered inside. Even from where I was standing, I could see the flash of purple in the water. Lazette noticed it too; she reached over to where Teito was standing and pulled it out.

It was a necklace of some kind; amethysts wound together with gold and purple thread, with a larger stone fixed on a gilded gold disc. Teito took the necklace and squinted at the stone.

"` _To the Angel's eye, the stone of Eternity, to always remind you of the home you left behind.'"_ He read, tracing the Zaiphon inscription in the gold, "...Is this yours, Lazette?"

Lazette shook her head and looked worried.

"You're right. Maybe someone lost this." He stared at the amulet some more and then put away the necklace in the inside pocket of his cloak, "I should try to find them. See you..." He was about to go, when Lazette tugged on his arm.

"Lazette?"

She pulled him down, and snatched up the map he was holding, opening it and pointing. The boy blinked at it. "You want me to go there?" He asked, confused, "Do you think that the person who lost the necklace is there?"

She nodded, eyes bright.

He paused for a minute, thinking it over. Then he shrugged, "Ok. I'll go on over there. Thanks again, Lazette." He set off towards the Church, murmuring under his breath about mermaids and mixed messages.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Teito:

_Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap._

The sound of my shoes pounding against the floor was incredibly deafening in the silence, and reverberated in my head, making it impossible for me to think.

Not that I was complaining. If anything, the Church had gotten even noisier, on account of the festival at the end of summer that was to take place. I breathed in deeply, feeling the throbbing sensation in my brain recede. Now that that was under control, I can focus on the task at hand.

I pulled out the map and studied the bold, black square that Lazette had pointed to. Apparently, it was only a few turns away from the hallway where my room was, down the left of the fork near the library.

 _Speaking of the library..._ I noticed the light flooding in through the oak doors ahead and peered inside curiously. The last I'd heard of the room, two of its shelves was trashed by some mysterious ruffian, who later turned out to be a rogue Kor.

But as I stepped inside the room, I started to wonder whether the Kor was really as superhuman strong as their kind really was. The library was a bright, cheery room...no, expanse of space was better than room; it was too big-and bookshelf upon bookshelf, emblazoned in tall dark-wood finish, stretched down the hallway as far as the eye could see. And not just the bookshelves but the people-at least a thousand people, bishops, nuns and lodgers alike were either clambering up the ladder or sitting near the wooden desks, reading their books with a serious expression.

I stopped near one of the towering shelves and peered upward, finding it hard to believe that the Kor actually managed to push two of these downward. My eyes wandered over the titles on the spine of each book, when a flashing gold-coloured one caught my eye.

At first I didn't register the words, simply staring at the golden colour. Then, my eyes traced the Zaiphon lettering;  _The Angel's Eye; the beginner's guide._

_The Angel's eye?_

I pulled the book out of the shelf and glanced at the summary written on the back.

 _Since the beginning of time, man had long since believed in the existence of a higher, alternate being, which governed their life and death. A being said to grant them three wishes they fulfil in their lifetimes. A being known to the masses as_ God.

_But what if one of God's own people had arrived to Earth, seeking revenge and hatred against their master? Against their own creator? And the only person who could stop them was a mere earth dweller, blessed with God's love?_

The existence of God. Come to think of it, even though I was in a Church, it didn't occur to me earlier that there really might be a higher being out there, governing our destinies.

I wasn't sure whether I believed in God, either.

I decided to file that thought away for future reference. For right now, maybe I can borrow this book. I looked around, hoping to find the librarian so I could ask them for details...I looked up as I heard footsteps approaching my direction and recoiled in surprise.

Hakuren stopped dead in his tracks when it became clear who he was approaching, surprise flitting across his face, before he re-arranged his features into a more guarded expression.

I shouldn't be so shocked. After all, in the very little time I'd talked to him...while he was continuously picking on me for some pranks I never did...I'd observed he was a bookish type; the kind that'd read a book once and then spout out random passages they'd memorized by heart. So seeing him in the library when it was close to dark outside shouldn't shock me at all.

But I was. And I was more than a little relieved to see he was almost completely healed from the Kor attack; the long, winding gash on his cheek he acquired when I narrowly pulled him out of the way, was the only reminder to the horrible event.

"Oh..." He said, noting the book I held in my hand. I flushed a little, "I-I wasn't planning on stealing it if that's what you're thinking!" I said, holding the book up between us. Of course, when I said it like that, it sounded like I really  _was_ stealing the book...

His mouth twitched a bit. "No, I didn't mean to startle you. I'm just surprised to see you here; I'd heard you had a rough week."

"Nope. It's pretty much normal standard for me by this point." I muttered.

He scrutinized me some more before saying, "You know, if you want to borrow that book, you can go right ahead."

"Huh? Isn't there someone in charge of this place?"

Hakuren's voice took on that annoying patronizing tone again, "No. This is a church remember? Rough-housing in here is almost non-existent. Last week's damage was an anomaly in itself. Besides, now that you wear the sign of the Church, they provide you with anything you need." He tapped the curved cross on the sleeves of my cloak.

I peered at him, as I noticed another new detail on his person that I'd never seen.

"You've got the cross too." I noted, pointing at the tiny replication of the symbol on the metal badge pinned to his collar.

"I'm an acolyte. A student of the Church. So are all of them. I use the Library to check up on my Biblical verses often for my exam, so I should know." He waved his hand at the other people in there, who, I noted with curiosity, were wearing the same white robes as him. "I see." I said, finally looking at him, "Then, it's alright if I borrow this?"

"You know, I was starting to think that maybe you were not mentally incapacitated, as I originally did, when I first saw you." He sighed, "But if you keep acting like that..."

I bristled a little. "Thanks for giving me the benefit of doubt." I snapped, marching past him.

"Wait a minute!" He called, following behind me. I gritted my teeth and tried to block him out, looking at the map again. I was quickly approaching the room where the person was. The detour into the library cost me some time, but it would help; it was late evening and unless whoever I was searching for worked the night shift, they'd be inside.

I stopped at the door, took in a deep breath and raised my hand to pull the brass knocker, when a hand pulled my sleeve back. I looked behind to see fearful eyes bore into mine.

"What?" I snapped, feeling my patience wear thin with each passing minute, "Would you do me a favour and leave me alone for a minute? I-!"

"What the  _hell._.." Hakuren said slowly, pulling each word through his gritted teeth, "...do you think you're doing, entering that room?" His tone made my eyes widen.

"Why?" I asked. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what I did to make him so mad. He wasn't even this angry when he thought I was spying on the nuns. Hakuren just glared ominously back at me, trying to yank me away from the door.

"Wait, I have to go give something!" I protested, pulling away from him. The older boy just stared at me in amazement, then shook his head. "This proves it. You are definitely mentally retarded. Don't you know what's behind that door?"

"Uh...the person I have to give this to?" I asked, holding the necklace up. Hakuren almost jumped half a mile into the air when he saw it. "Y-you...you have..." He stuttered incoherently for a minute, before recovering and grabbing my arm again, pulling me away, "We have to get you out of here.  _Now._ "

"Why are you so...angry?"

"Angry?" He laughed humourlessly, " _I'_ m the one whose angry? My anger will be nothing once you face the wrath of the owner. A dragon's temper is what she's got."

"I'm sure you're exaggerating." I said reasonably, pulling towards the doorway...and almost staggering inside the room.

_Dear me, what an interesting description of my temper. Unfortunately, it's not far off the mark._

The voice resonated through the empty chambers and through my mind, deep and bass-like, with a mere hint of light-ness that suggested that the speaker was female. As I stumbled through the dark room, I felt myself hit a solid...something. I could feel pointed ridges bury themselves in my spine painfully.

 _Be careful, child._ She said, slightly amused. I felt something sharp hook around my sleeve and pull me up to my feet. I looked upward and saw two rows of gleaming white fangs just an inch or so above my head.

I waited for the fear to come. I waited for the moment when I would scramble away from the beast, or feel the warm crackle of Zaiphon through my fingertips as I summoned it to fight. Or even screaming and fainting. But nothing came. I just sat and stared blankly at the rows of spikes perched on its head like a strange, embroidered mantle, feeling incredibly numb.

A head poked in through the open doorway. "A-are you alright?" Hakuren asked anxiously.

_Young one?_

"Teito." I heard myself speak, "My name is Teito." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hakuren poke his head in even further, until he finally saw what was over me. In a flash, he ran over to where I was slumped and pulled me away from the creature

Creature? No, not creature.

"Dragon." I mumbled under my breath. Hakuren stopped pulling me out of the way and looked at me confusedly.

Don't ask me how. The words just...tumbled out. Like how I knew about Kor and the Bascules. This time, I looked up as I spoke, searching for the wide, intelligent eyes that I knew the dragon had.

"You're a fyulong dragon. The pack mother." I repeated, staring right at those eyes, and feeling any traces of uncertainty disappear, as I saw them soften a bit.

 _Indeed._ She surveyed me carefully,  _We are well met, human. May I ask why you came to my lair?_

"...I was sent here by...a close friend of mine. She told me that this might be yours." I held the necklace up. I felt Hakuren stiffen behind me as the dragon lowered her snout towards the pendant. She sniffed it and snapped the rope between her jaws.

_Kururu, come here._

I had my eyes trained on the shadows, so I was the first to see a small figure melt out of the darkness. It was the colour of dark and looked like a smaller version of the pride mother.

 _ **You called, mother?**_ She asked, looking from her to me. The minute she saw me though, she growled and flared out her wings ominously.  _ **You! What are you doing here?**_

I recoiled a bit, looking up when the mother chuckled.  _I see we haven't forgiven him yet, have we, Kururu?_ She turned to me, _On your first day back, you helped to capture a young fyulong hatchling, as she tried to scurry her way to freedom. You may not remember, but she certainly does._

"Wait, the hatchling I caught was you?" I blurted out, "But you look different."

 _ **I have grown.**_ Kururu sniffed,  _ **You may not know this, but as Fyulongs age, they look different from their child selves, much like a human.**_

I turned back to the mother, "I guess I'll be going now then." I was just about to go, when the dragon mother slowly advanced towards me, lowering her snout until her eyes met mine again; clear grey glaze that burned into mine.

 _Teito Klein._ She said, her tone grave, _Bear in mind this though; you seem to be of noble heart, and certainly brave enough to stand up against a Fyulong. But unless, you temper the darkness tainting your soul, you would crumble before those who hunt you._

I stiffened and looked upward toward those deathly serious eyes.

She knew. She knew everything.

"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you." I bowed and walked towards the door, hearing the dull echoes of Hakuren's footsteps. As if he was at the faraway end of a tunnel.

It didn't make a difference.

She knew about the decision. She didn't know that I've already decided.

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 _Splash, splash, splash..._ The torrent of cold fountain water was loud in the silent night. If anything, it set me on edge. Even more so than I already was.

I fidgeted uncomfortably on the hard marble border of the fountain, re-assessing the situation. Maybe...just maybe...there was the slightest possibility that this might not work...again, the dragon's warning flashed in my mind, but I firmly pushed it away.

I came too far to give up now. I gripped the white sleeves of my coat and took in deep breaths.

I was just calming myself down, when a white flash burned in my eyes. I gritted my teeth, trying not to cry out for fear of attracting attention. As I pulled the hands down, I looked into the cold, empty eyes of Death.

"What is your wish, Teito Klein?"

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	8. Wished

Ante Mortem

Chapter 7: Wished

Frau:

"I'm an idiot." I muttered to myself, passing yet another gas-lamp.

The slow chirping of the crickets and the faint howls of the wildlife in the courtyard nearby did nothing to ease my jumpy mood. I pinched the bridge of my nose with my forefinger and thumb, trying to calm down.

It's not like he could get in much trouble in 12 hours...Then I remembered the amount of trouble Castor and Labrador had foreseen, and just barely managed to prevent, in just 2 weeks.

The Devil himself was out to get him...

No. Stop right there. You're acting paranoid. You're acting like his gay mom, for God's sake. The kid just has a bad luck streak.

I concentrated on the silence drifting in the cold, chilly air, the way it seeped into my skin and bit into bone, the icy rivers of fog and mist as it drifted past me, the frozen silence that seemed to crack with each breath...

The silence that was never meant to exist.

It suddenly hit me. The crickets had stopped chirping and the howls sounded the air no more. And the fog drew in, suddenly, inexorably colder.

Almost as if acknowledging my awareness, the familiar feeling of foreboding shot through me, piercing my soul...

"Get the fuck away from me!" I swiped at the slimy dark, feeling it recoil before my arm.

"That's right. You know what's in there, don't you?"

The shapeless dark mass quivered, before lurching away from me and disappearing into the shadows. Not if I can help it. I yanked up my left sleeve, fingers groping the tattoo on my arm, just barely registering the pounding of my feet on the ground.

I raised my line of sight for a split second, and stopped dead. I knew this place. I knew it all too well. I'd spent the past few days staking this place out, searching for a moody little brat.

The same brat who perched on the marble brim of the water fountain, clutching at the sleeves of his Church robes.

I opened my mouth to yell out a warning to the kid, but the darkness reached the place first. With an awful gurgling sound, it materialised mere inches away from the kid into a human-like figure.

Teito looked up, and started slightly when he saw the Kor close to him. He stood up slowly and looked the Kor straight in the eye, the dim moonlight illuminating the ploy of emotion on his face.

I'd expected to see surprise...fear. What I saw instead was the blank, emotionless face, with little more live features than a Noh mask.

The Kor hissed under his breath at the boy, sneering down at him. The boy responded, but his words were spoken softly, only to the monster in front of him.

He was talking to the Kor? I drew closer in, hiding behind the pillars holding the gas-lamps.

"Human..." The Kor said, spitting the word out in distaste, "You mean to insult me?"

"No." Teito said, carefully keeping his emotions under control, "I'm only here to ask something from you."

The Kor crouched suddenly, groaning as two bony wings flared out on either side. "If you know what I'm capable of, child, you must also know of the power I possess. I could break your neck with a snap of my fingers!"

"But your master wouldn't be very happy with that now, would he?"

I gripped the pillar to prevent myself from lunging at the boy and blowing my cover. What was he doing?

The Kor paused, cocking his head to one side. "No." He admitted finally, "He would be very much displeased. It has been a while since I'd brought him a live human soul."

"You need a soul and I need a wish. Sounds like we can make a deal then."

The Kor nodded slowly, then straightened and extended his arm out in front of him, right towards the middle of the boy's chest.

I ran out from behind the pillar, pulling out the scythe as fast I could. But I wasn't fast enough.

A searing sound of flame tore apart the silence and the boy sank to his knees, clutching his chest and gasping loudly.

 _No!_  I growled, swinging the scythe towards the Kor. It turned its head upwards, eyes widening for a fraction of a second, before the blade quivered and fell.

With a deafening crack, the bony wings gave way and fell to pieces, the Kor screaming one final time before it crumpled up on the ground.

I hung the scythe over my back and ran towards Teito.

"Kid, you ok?" I asked.

He drew in a deep, shuddering breath, still clawing at his chest. I gritted my teeth and wrenched his arm away, peering down at him. There was a rip in the blue cloth of his knee-length night-gown, baring the sapphire-ink tattoo in the middle of his chest.

"Stay still for a minute."

There was no time to waste. I gripped the kid's shoulder, pulling away my glove with my teeth and placing a hand over the mark, steeling myself.

There was no point trying. I never got used to the feel of a warm soul, pulsing with life, brushing against my cold hand. The feeling of terror at an outside, unfamiliar breach, the feeling of icy cold dark trying to taint the soul.

The feel of pain as I pulled the darkness away.

I wasted as little time as possible and I still felt everything. I scrunched the small Kor in my fist and turned back towards the kid. His eyes were wide open.

"Kid?"

"What did you do?" He whispered.

"Kid, you alright?"

"What did you do?" Teito pulled away from me, searching the spot where the Kor had marked him. His fingers met smooth, unmarked skin and he looked back up at me with furious eyes.

"Why did you come here?" He demanded, hiding his clenched fists behind him, feet positioned a few feet apart.

Posture of defence. The part of my brain that was still lucid registered this small detail.

"Why did you stop him?" He continued, still livid, "Why did you stop him from granting my wish? Answer me, damn it!"

"Listen to me, damned brat." The icy cold tone in my voice startled even me. Teito looked up, surprised as I continued, "I have no idea what kind of shit you managed to get yourself into before you got here. Hell, according to you, you have no idea either. But, from what I gather, you remember enough to know what kind of darkness you deal with when you make a pact with a Kor. That true?"

"I-It's none of your business." He snapped, but with less emotion this time.

"It is when you call a familiar of darkness in the House of God. Much as you don't believe it, I'm a Bishop and it's my job to get rid of scum like this. And to protect people who want nothing to do with them."

"I'm strong. I can stop the Kor if he plans to attack anyone..."

"Strong?" I laughed humourlessly, "You won't be strong enough to lift even a feather when the Kor is done with you."

"Stop it!" He clapped his hands to his ears, and glared right back at me, "It isn't your business whether I damn myself or not! If I want to ask some favour of the Kor, then I'm entitled to my own decisions! Don't-!"

"Don't what? Sell your soul to the demon lord himself?" As I asked the question, I noticed the determination flicker in the kid's eyes, to be replaced with deep, ageless sorrow.

Something in me gave in at that point. I couldn't carry on this...conversation for one more minute.

"Kid. I'm not exactly the expert on making good decisions myself. But I do know this; the minute you make the decision to sell yourself to a Kor, you'd be damned for all eternity, forgetting everything, even the thing that drove you to make such a desperate decision." The sorrow was gone and now he looked at me curiously, urging me to continue. "There is one thing you can do. You apparently have an ability to control Zaiphon and Bascules; use it to fight any darkness in your way. Stay here as long as you want and search for the truth; prepare your way ahead."

I pressed one hand against his cheek and muttered, "Sleep." His eyelids drooped and I felt him weaken with exhaustion. He summoned up the last of his strength and whispered, "Why are you helping me?"

Beats me, kid. But I do know this.

"Because I had to."

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Teito:

I stretched my arms towards the blue sky pouring in through the huge windows, looking longingly at the sun outside.

How long had I been in here? At the very least 5 hours...I looked back at the stacks of leather-bound tomes on the desk and was mildly surprised when it didn't splinter apart in their wake.

This is going to be tougher than I thought. Who knew there was so much information about the Kor? I looked around, taking in the panicked looks on the faces of the Church acolytes as they tired too cram some final bit of information into their heads the day before the exam. Then again, I amended myself wryly, Looks like I was the only one with that opinion. At any rate, I'm wasting more time just sitting here.

I plucked myself off the metal chair wearily and proceeded to stack the books back on the shelves when I heard a voice call out, "Teito-kun?"

I spun around and saw Athena, Libelle and Rosalie walk up towards me.

"Good morning...I mean, afternoon." I corrected, glancing up at the bright golden sun burning in the heavens.

"Were you looking for something in the library?" Libelle asked. I nodded, "Yes, you could say that. I was researching the familiar of Verloren, the Kor. Apparently, I was in here longer than I planned for."

Rosalie clapped her hands in delight, "How wonderful! Learning new things...you're just like a school boy!"

Athena looked at me in concern, "Have you had anything to eat?"  
I twitched. Just a little. "Not really." I said, eyeing them carefully.

"Teito-kun, you know you should eat properly. You just recovered from your injuries; it wouldn't do if you fell ill again." Rosalie admonished. I ducked my head, flushing. "Yes ma'am." I muttered.

Athena and Libelle both nodded their heads at me and trudged away. Rosalie hung back with me, and I looked back up in confusion as I saw her smile to herself.

"Rosalie-san?" I asked, "What's the matter?"

"Oh, nothing." She said hurriedly, "I was...just thinking of something else." I continued to watch her closely as she smoothed the front of her black robes and walked towards the door, stopping just a few inches short of the entryway.

"Oh, and Teito-kun? Perhaps it would help if you read the Children of Wild." With that, she walked off.

I blinked. The Children of Wild? That didn't sound much like a book on the familiars of darkness...come to think of it, have I seen it somewhere?

I walked up to the nearby shelf and peered closely. Sure enough, it still sat there on the shelf, mildly dusty from lack of use. I picked the book from the shelf and was about to turn it to peer at the cover, when a small, black, violet-haired figure threw herself on me. I flailed, barely managing to catch the edge of the wooden desk before I could fall over.

"Wha-?" I huffed, looking down, "Lazette?"  
The mermaid grinned up at me, humming all the while. I registered the black nun robes she was wearing, "You just finished Mass?" Lazette ignored the question and looked curiously at the stack of books on the table.

"Oh, I was just doing some reading." The young girl took a long look at me before sighing heavily. She may not speak, but it didn't take a genius to figure out what she was trying to say.

"I do get out. Sometimes." She threw me a disbelieving look at that, then noticed the book I was holding. Her eyes widened and she let out a happy wind-chime laugh.

 _Hm?_  I looked at the cover and was surprised to see familiar-looking glass-like white petals with a delicate lace-trim.

The Flower of Mordre? That's the flower that Lazette pointed me towards yesterday. I opened the book and flipped through the pages until I came across the one I was looking for.

The Flower of Mordre, the page said, A medium-sized plant whose flower is used to alleviate lifelong illnesses and heal fatal injuries. The teardrops in the centre are most often used to decorate clothes and are a substitute for diamonds and other jewellery. However, the plant is known for more than its healing value; the flower is plucked far and wide during the time of the Festival of the Angel's Eye and is known to have a significant connection with the God of Death, Verloren.

Wait...Verloren? But he's the master of the Kor...I looked up at Lazette. "What does this all mean?" I asked.

She just looked at me with a faint smile and walked over to the table. She picked up the map Castor gave me and flipped through the many folds until she stopped at one place. She held it out to me, one webbed finger pointing to a hidden flower grove beside the fountain. One that I knew all too well, actually.

"I have to go there? Why?" She merely shoved the map at me and waved me off with her hand, lifting a part of the pyramid of books towards the shelves.

I looked toward the map again. The Hawthorn grove, huh...

"Someone up there has a flair for irony." I muttered as I stalked out of the room.

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White. There was so much white. Bouquet upon bouquet's worth of Mordre flowers grew in dark green creepers twisting along the cracked stone walls, seeping in through the minute holes. As I walked through the crumbling stone archway, I was showered by white petals as the movements shook off the flowers from the vines.

The change was uncanny. Only two weeks ago, this place had been a haunted, deserted area. The ideal setting for a horror movie; monsters sliding into the shadows of the broken pillars, waiting to cast a spell on the innocent...

It was hard to think that in the midst of this paradise was the place that had started the worst nightmare I could ever remember. I sighed wearily and sat down underneath the same stone pillar, thinking of the last time I'd been here.

The last time I was here, I was possessed by visions of a person I barely know...the familiar stranger that had meant so much to me in a past life. I was re-awoken by yet another stranger...and I could hardly think of him as a stranger. Weird behaviour aside, Frau had done nothing but help me...it was because of him I'd been accepted by more and more strangers.

Strangers? Or friends?

I snapped back to reality when I heard a soft noise to my side. I blinked a few times before the sound registered in my mind.

Sniffling...crying?

I looked around the pillar and saw a little boy, curled up in a ball on the dry grass. Silver streaks adorned his face and his cheeks were flushed from crying. Shivers wracked his tiny frame; he looked so weak and pathetic.

"Are you alright?" The words escaped from my mouth before I could stop them and I clapped a hand to my mouth as the kid raised his eyes to meet mine.

Ocean blue, looking all the more fluid-like with the tears still in his eyes.

"Are you hurt?" I asked again, taking a step towards him. The boy flinched back, but remained in the same spot, tearing his eyes away from me. I walked until I reached the kid, then knelt down and peered into his face.

Nothing but sadness in those eyes. Pure, heart-breaking sadness that made you feel like you lost all hope in the world. The worst part was that I recognized that sadness very well.

"Don't look at me..." The kid choked out as I rummaged in my cloak. I ignored him and pulled out a handkerchief from the inside pocket. "Here." I said, giving it to him. He took a long look at me before taking the cloth and wiping his face clean. His sobs gradually dissolved into whimpers before he quieted down completely.

"Better?" I asked him. He nodded, still continuing to avoid my eyes. As I sat down beside him, he flinched but continued to look away silently.

Talk about déjà vu, I thought as I recognized the pillar we sat under, tracing the dust on the grass.

"Why?" The kid asked shakily, still looking away from me.

I closed my eyes and didn't answer. What's there to answer? Do I need a reason to help someone? And if I had a reason, it would be because no-one was there to help me before...

No. That's a lie and you know it, Teito.

"I'm sorry." The kid mumbled, breaking through my thoughts. I blinked as an irrational irritation surged through me, making my voice sharper than normal. "Don't be." I said, "There's no need to apologize for crying."

"But...crying is for babies..." The irritation dissolved as I looked into the child's eyes with amusement. Really, where had this idea originated from? Men are perfectly adept for crying as well as women.

"Sometimes, when you're really sad about something, there's nothing you can do but cry." A fact that I knew very well. The kid looked up at me with dry eyes, curiosity taking over sadness as he noticed my Church robes.

"You're an acolyte?"

"Not really. I...got into an accident and ended up here." The kid looked quite upset at this little fact. He took a long look at me again, then said, "I was collecting flowers for the Church."

"...You mean the Mordre flowers? For the Angel's Eye, right?" The kid nodded, "Sister Libelle had pointed me here. I didn't expect to see something like...well..."

"This?" I offered. The kid gave me a weak grin, "Yup."

"Surely, you have some help?" The kid's grin dissolved almost immediately, "No. The Sister had told me to gather them as fast as I could and I didn't have time to get anyone else to help me. She can be...scary."

This time, I grinned. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"No idea. It's almost three and she told me specifically to get them before six. But..." He looked quite desperate now. I couldn't blame him. The good Sister's temper was quite reminiscent of the Fyulong mother's.

And it wasn't like I had anything to do. "I can help." He looked quite shocked at this request. I shrugged, "I'm free for the afternoon. And you need all the help you can get."

The kid was quiet for a minute, before he blurted, "Capella."

"Hm?"

"My...my name's Capella. I mean...if it makes a difference."

Of course it does. I was a nameless stranger until I remembered my identity. I didn't say this out loud. I merely replied, "Nice to meet you, Capella. Teito Klein at your service."

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Hakuren:

I'm not going to make it...!

I huffed against the weight in my arms, as my head craned around the hand-carved edges that dug into my elbows. I focused on the pitter-patter sound of my footsteps against the marble steps.

One, two. One, two. One, two.

"How're you holding up, Hakuren?"

"Al-Alright. I think." I didn't want to show anyone how tired I was, least of all him. I forced a smile on my face, "Remind me what floor we're carrying this to?"

"Floor 715."

Damn. I had to ask. The smile quickly melted from my face as he looked away from me, while I struggled against the heavy wooden bench. For the love of all that was holy, was this blasted piece of oak really needed for the Festival? And that too on the topmost tower? Lazette was a lovable girl and all, but she had some weird(and straining) tastes as to her organ-playing.

I rolled my shoulder and was trying hard to not think about the heavy weight threatening to rip my arms out of their sockets, when I felt a strange sinking sensation under my foot.

It all happened quickly. I fell through the newly-formed hole in the staircase and felt the wood slip through my sweat-slicked hands. Before I could do more than stare in horror from my awkward position, the wooden bench fell from our arms completely and fell towards the ground, the air howling around it.

"Shit! The bench!" He said, echoing my thoughts, as he reached a hand out for it. My eyes were tracing the bench's fall from grace, so I didn't miss the sudden jerk the bench gave and its final sigh as it came to a stop.

"What the-?" I choked out, staring as it floated silently, in mid-air. With a shuddering creak, it moved upwards slowly at first, gaining momentum until it flew upwards like some grotesquely large and stiff bird. It stopped a mere inch from me, hovering slightly.

"That blue ring...zaiphon." He said, almost whispered, "Who managed to stop this thing-?"

"Are you alright?" Another voice demanded. My head snapped up, I knew that voice.

Sure enough, my eyes met intensely green ones, wide with fear, as Teito Klein tore up the steps. "Hakuren!" He said, on seeing me. I jerked a little before realizing I was still trapped by the stairway hole. "I'm alright. I didn't expect a hole in the middle of the stairway so soon." I said, pulling myself up and looking harder at him.

He wasn't even strained with the exhaustion of conjuring his Zaiphon to carry the weight; he merely looked away towards the bishop with me. He suddenly stiffened, mouth set in a grim line. "Frau." Was the only thing he said.

Bishop Frau looked back at him, a cool expression on his face, still slightly marred by shock. "Brat." He responded.

"Teito nii-chan!" A voice cried, accompanied by the noise of more footsteps. A little blond head rapidly came up the stairs, stopping just a few feet short of Teito, "Nii-chan, you ok?"

"I'm fine, Capella." Teito smiled at him, "Be careful. You may drop those flowers and we don't have time to go back for more."

"Are those Mordre flowers?" Frau suddenly asked. I blinked as I registered for the first time the stack of fresh-cut white flowers over Teito's shoulder and a similar, smaller stack on the boy named Capella's.

"Yes. We were gathering them for the festival and were told by Sister Libelle that Labrador-san was at the top of the tower." Teito responded, voice low and guarded.

"He is. We were carrying that bench to Lab just now. If you'd be so kind as to set it down-"

"No need. I can help you carry it all the way upwards." Teito responded, as he flicked the hand not holding the flowers towards the bench. With a shudder, it zipped away from me and towards him.

"T-thanks." I said finally.

"Your Zaiphon needs a little work." Frau said. Teito's cool demeanour cracked at that, face reddening. "Shut up, damned bishop!" He snapped, "It's not like I have any idea to control it in the first place!" The bench shuddered and suddenly fell towards the floor again, startling me completely.

"Damn!" Teito flicked his fingers again and the bench stopped its descent again before floating back up. Frau chortled behind me. "Well, you've evolved brat. Your strength can now put an eleven-year old to shame."

"Grrr..." Teito clenched his fist tighter over the flowers, threatening to crush their stems.

"Anyway. See ya." With that, he walked towards the door of the floor we were on before disappearing through the door.

In the silence that filled his wake, I finally managed, "Are you sure you can carry the bench by yourself?"

"Yes." Teito snapped, "I may not know much about Zaiphon but I know the basics."

I mutely approached the boy and pried the stack of flowers from his death-grip. "Hey!" He complained.

"You idiot. You honestly think that you could carry the flowers and the bench all the way up?" I snorted, "I'm doing you a favour over here." He blinked at me before shuffling his feet and mumbling, "Thank you."

"Let's go." I said, moving resolutely ahead of him. A moment passed, before his footsteps echoed mine, a smaller set following his. The owner of the aforementioned footsteps asked, "Hey, nii-chan? Is this person a friend of yours?"

I closed my eyes and refused the urge to stiffen. The footsteps directly behind me stumbled a bit, before the voice behind me said softly, "Yeah. I guess he is."

My face was averted to the shadows, so they couldn't see the surprise or the sudden, irrational happiness that played on my face. I didn't know why but it finally felt like the world was at peace.

"Hurry up. We have a long way to go." I was pleased that my voice was normal.

"Ok."

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Normal POV:

There was nothing but shadows. Light and shadow, perfectly balanced in the small room, bleaching out the surroundings, making everything grey. The walls, the floor. The desk on the middle of the floor. The chair next to the desk. The (presumably) black panther next to the chair. And the tall, young man next to the panther.

He was as still as the cold colour of the room, eyes closed, fingers stroking the middle of the eyebrows. The pose he adapts while thinking. He appeared to be frozen by time, never stirring, never truly living. Finally, he opened his eyes, a cruel smile splitting the icy features of his face. "Alright, Teito Klein. Let's see how you'll take being cornered against the bars of your gilded cage."

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Thousands of miles away, in the Church of a faraway district, a bishop dressed in white gasped as he finally came out of his self-imposed reverie. "So clear..." He panted. Taking in a few deep breaths and gripping the glass panes of the window he'd been staring out of, he pulled out his cell-phone and speed-dialled one of the contacts.

After three rings, a voice answered, "Labrador?"

"Castor. The decision has been made. They are coming."

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	9. Trusted

Ante Mortem

Chapter 8: Trusted

" _ **Everybody goes through life with wishes that would never come true.**_

_**Stumbling through every second, clutching every grain of sand that represents their time, desperate, pleading, begging for more time to accomplish what they need.** _

_**Ignorant fools.** _

_**They do not realise that they have all the time in the world to realise these dreams...and that what they desire may stare back right at them.** _

_**Forgotten. Unwanted.** _

_**To save the life of someone most precious to you and losing yours in the process, O selfish being, do you not see what pain you would cause among those who love you? What makes your wish any different?"** _

" _My wish is different. And he is not a friend, but my brother-by-bond."_

" _ **And if this brother sheds his life to protect yours?"**_

" _He was the one who made life worth living. If he dies, I die and I will blacken his memory with the guilt of his selfishness."_

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Teito:

_Well, there's something you don't see everyday._

_Actually,_ I amended, _if you live at this particular Church, you do see this everyday. At Mass, anyway. I, on the other hand, am not used to seeing a mermaid play an organ on dry land._

"Lazette, maybe you should take a break now." I said, trying to talk some sense into the girl. This proved to be a mistake however; the mermaid who lay half-dead on the black and white keys of the practice organ, straightened up and spun around, waving her hands around and making complaining noises with renewed vigour.

"Ok, ok, alright already!" I raised my hands in surrender, "I know this Festival is really important to you, since you'll be playing in front of town and everything, but you won't be in any condition to play if you don't get some rest. You've been slaving away ever since that first day when we set up the organ and-"

She pointed to the book-stack a few feet away from where I sat on the bench and to the book which lay open in my hands, an eyebrow raised. "That's different." I protested, "I'm doing some research on Kor and other dark familiars. I don't slave away over it-"

I was interrupted again by a complaining sound, this time from my stomach. She beamed a triumphant grin in my direction and I grunted in response, "It's not like I need anything, especially with the hearty breakfast the Sisters made me eat. Plus, I had to see you play. I've never really...attended Mass."

Lazette laughed her wind-chime laugh and turned to face the keyboard again, fingers softly caressing the keys.

"Uh...wasn't the whole point of this talk to get you to  _stop_ playing?" I asked.

"Leave her be. She hasn't had this much fun since she first arrived at the Church."

I didn't even spin around. I didn't have to. "Castor-san. You seem well." I greeted. The bishop came and sat on the bench by my side. "So, Teito-kun. I was talking to the good Sister in charge of the library and she was commenting on the antics of a certain Church habitant. He used to come in at 4 in the morning, when the library was barely open and sit in there for hours. Then, at 8'o clock, without fail, three Sisters would drag him out of there, complaining that he hadn't eaten anything. He would go with them, then return back after 15 minutes, and sit there until lunch, where he escapes from there with a handful of books under his arm."

 _What timing the man has,_ I thought with a slight wince, as Lazette turned to look at the books again. I coughed self-consciously, "I don't  _escape_ from the library in any case."

"On the contrary," Castor's smile grew more pronounced, "Her exact words were 'At the stroke of one, the boy would stack the books back on the bookshelf, rip out a few more and dash away so fast that one would wonder whether a Kor would be after him, instead of three Sisters.'"

I sighed and kept the book I was reading back on the stack. He eyed the titles on the rib of each book and raised an eyebrow, "'10 things to learn about the Kor', 'Dangerous beasts and their must-know weaknesses: A fail-safe guide to protection', 'Snow in the Dark: Legends of familiars of good and evil'...

These are all books about Kor and Wars."

It wasn't a statement, but I answered anyway. "Yes. I...I wanted to learn more about what was outside the Church and...I wanted to start with Kor."

When I looked up, I was surprised to see Castor-san grin to himself. "Castor-san?"

"Oh, it's nothing, Teito-kun." He said, "Anyway, shouldn't you be going now? Lunch-hour is almost over and all the people have left."

"Mmm...maybe later. Right now, I want to read some more."

"Alright. Come on, Lazette."

"...Castor-san?" The doll-maker turned around, "Thank you."

He appeared to be surprised, "For what, Teito-kun?"

"For saving me...and putting up with my attitude over the past few days...and teaching me how to live in the world again. I've never been...I've never thanked you. So."

Castor laughed, "Teito-kun, you don't need to thank me. It's my duty to save souls. And, for the record, you weren't nearly as stubborn as some of the other Church orphans. In fact, you were something of an angel."

I blinked, "I have no idea what I'm going to do when I learn enough about the outside, but one thing's for sure, I'm not going to make a good priest."

"Don't be so sure, Teito-kun." I raised an eyebrow at the man and was about to ask, but he disappeared down the steps, with mermaid in tow.

 _What did he mean?_ I thought for perhaps the hundredth time since I first woke up here. Honestly, everyone at this Church knew how to hide their expressions. Or at least, they were a master of double entendres.

I rubbed my eyes irritably and sat back down on the bench again. The wind was blowing gently towards the side and played with my hair, bringing with it the scent of fallen snow. A sure sign that winter was approaching.

This thought calmed me and I leaned back against the wall, enjoying the cool sensation of air against flesh.

_So peaceful..._

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Frau:

How many times had I wandered around this damn Church?

Answer: Plenty, and counting. Apparently, the brat didn't have any problem with roaming around after first light; he left before I returned back from one of my usual trips.

When I said as much to Castor, he just shrugged off the comment. "I'm sure Teito has his reasons for wandering around the Church. You can't forget the ordeal he's going through."

 _I know it's no picnic waking up to knowing you have absolutely no memory. But does the kid really need to wander around, especially as he's being targeted by all Kor from the Seventh-heck, maybe_ all _the districts?_

I kneaded my forehead with one gloved hand and sighed. Well, I sure as hell wasn't going to find him sitting here. I pulled myself off the floor and as I started walking around the Church, resigning myself for a long search, I almost walked into Castor and Lazette.

"Glasses, have you seen-?"

"Teito-kun? Not to worry, he's still up there, reading." I nodded and was just about to pass him by, when Castor muttered, "Interesting taste in books that boy has."

I didn't have time to ask what he meant; I rushed upstairs, two at a time. I closed my eyes against the spiralling steps, feeling each step with my feet to avoid being sick or getting dizzy.  
I couldn't afford to waste any time. I'd had first-hand experience to the danger that seemed to be inexorably attached towards the kid.

Finally, I stumbled towards the door and kicked it open. "Oi, damned brat!" I called, "Where are...?" The question hung, incomplete, in the air as I saw him.

The kid looked like he had been sitting on the bench before, judging by the odd positions of the black-toned books as they hung off the ledge. Now, he was curled up in a foetal position against the marble slate, one arm wrapped around his torso, the other hanging off the bench, fingertips almost touching the floor.

His expression was so calm and peaceful; the fragile, tentative, lulling silence of a dreamer.

"Damn brat." I sighed, "You'll freeze up here." I carefully removed all the books from the bench and placed them on the floor, making it a point to get them later. Then, slowly, I shifted the kid into my arms, carefully without waking him.

"Here we go." I mumbled, stepping out of the doorway. I made my way down the steps, steadily making sure not to jostle him.

 _The kid looks exhausted._ I noted,  _Has he been going to the library all this time? That would explain the number of books he had with him. But what could he want to search about so badly? And why now?_

As I made my way halfway down the steps, the kid moaned and stirred. I looked down at him and saw that he had shifted his head to the side, so that his hair shielded his eyes against the sunlight pouring in through the windows.

"Hang on, kid. Almost there." I said.

"..."

"Kid?"  _Has he fallen back asleep?_

"...Fr...Frau..."

"Hm?"

"... _Zehel._ "

I stopped dead. Unconsciously, my grip on the kid tightened as I slowly looked down into his face. His eyes were still squeezed shut, and he was breathing softly. The stance of a sleeper.

Did I imagine things?

"...Zehel. Listen...to what I have to say." The kid mumbled in the rusty voice of a sleeper, but his words were cold and clear as frost, "Tonight...tonight...the back garden...the last gate...frozen desert...untamed evil..."

"Teito?" How was my voice still so calm? How did it sound so detached when the thing I wanted to do was shake him senseless and demand how he knew...? "Who is Zehel?"

"...Don't...toy with me.  _I know what you are._ " Teito's voice was anything but faint from that point. It resonated with a deep, powerful tone and his hands gripped my robes, " _Your innocent ploy does not deceive me, 07-Ghost!"_  Without any warning, he gasped and slumped back against my arms, head flopping towards one side.

"Teito!" Shit, what happened to this kid? I ran towards the end of the staircase and burst out into the open lawn.

"Labrador!"

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Hakuren:

"Are you serious?" I barked.

The question hung in the silent air, as I was then aware of the eyes turned towards us. "Hakuren-kun?" The Sister in charge of the study session asked cautiously, "Is everything well?"

"Y-yes, ma'am. I'm sorry." I sat back down in my seat and waited until she resumed reading, before looking towards Ouida.

"Sorry about that." I muttered, "Are you sure they're coming?"

"Yes. As you know, all the bishops have to attend the Festival." Ouida replied grimly, "The bishops from the First District had been invited to stay by the Oak family...and in return, they had asked the family to accompany them to the Church for the baptism ceremony-"

I couldn't bear to look anymore, so I turned straight ahead towards the windows.

The sheer, blue sky seemed to taunt me with the freedom I'd so longed for. The freedom I'd gained. And the freedom that was to be snatched away from me and broken forever.

How could they? How could they...why would they?

Do they hate me so much? Are they embarrassed that a child of the Oak family chose to rebel against their ways.

"Hakuren?" Ouida asked uncertainly. He didn't like what he saw in my face. As I looked into his, that uncertain fear hit me and I snapped. I stood up.

"Hakuren-kun?"

"I apologize. But I would like to continue my studies outside for the time-being." And I walked away from the library, not knowing where I was going and not caring. I just wanted to be away, alone, where I can think peacefully. **[1]**

I stared straight ahead, making random turns here and there, feeling the air cool my heated cheeks.

I couldn't take it anymore. After all this time, after each and every fight I've wasted my energy on, after all the efforts I've taken to severe connections with him...he's still managed to back me into a corner.

Was it all really worth it, when in the end, I'm pulled back into his hands like his loyal dog?

I looked out into the sun, feeling its heat sear through my mind.  _In this ridiculous pantomime called life, I'm the offspring of a bird whose wings were cut off, the very minute I was born. Tell me, what role does a flightless bird have to play?_

_**...Someone...** _

_**Someone told me** _

_**There were a 100 ways to die** _

_**And only one way to live...** _

_**...And even when** _

_**I crash and burn...** _

I looked up as the words reached my ears. They resonated off the marble pillars, and seemed to be coming from down the hallway. It was only then I realised where I was.

 _Isn't this the first Hallway?_ I walked onwards as I looked around for the source of the music. As I approached closer, I was able to discern more of the words.

_Isn't that...guitar music? But Lazette doesn't play with the guitar...and that's a male voice._

_**When I fall down crying** _

_**I won't close my eyes** _

' _ **Cause I'm sure that**_

_**You're still counting on me...** _

I stopped dead. The music was coming from the door in front of me...the door with the silver knocker. I knew what was behind it, of course. It was four weeks since then, but I still remembered the roaring voice above with clarity.

No other person of the Church would set foot in this door; they had heard and whispered of the fierce dragon mother. Save for two inhabitants, no-one actually saw her.

No other fool would ever set foot in the room again.

Does Klein have a death-wish or something? He was a far cry from an image of optimism but...I took in a deep breath and looked inside the room. When my vision cleared, I jumped back a little.

Teito was there alright, leaning against the pillar and completely at ease. His fingers plucked at the strings of the guitar in his hands, almost caressing the smooth metal. His eyes were closed, with an expression of peace. Almost of their own accord, his lips mouthed the words slowly, carried by the soulful tune.

Sitting not three feet from him was the mother dragon, as she surveyed the boy closely. Even her dragon hatchling, Kururu was there, peeking out under the dragon's half-folded wing.

"Hmm." Teito mumbled, finally opening his eyes, "I think I got the tune...but...will I get it in time for the festival...?"

 _I wouldn't know,_ answered the Fyulong mother,  _However, in all my travels, I have never met such a dedicated musician, nor have I ever heard any of the life in anyone's songs as you put. You are quite gifted, child._

 _ **He'll do.**_ Was all Kururu said, though she still looked at him curiously. Teito scratched his head, "Well, I wouldn't know. I...just found out about my ability when I came here. So, you could say I'm a novice."

 _Experience has nothing to do with the quality of art, child._ The dragon mother suddenly whipped her head around towards me,  _Just ask young Oak over here._

Teito frowned and looked in my direction. He did a double take, "H-Hakuren? What...isn't the study period going on at the library?"

"Y-yeah." I managed, "But I felt unwell, so I skipped today. And when I walked down the hallway, I heard your playing..." I coughed, "It...it was beautiful."

Teito blinked, before shifting his feet and muttering something under his breath.

A thundering roar filled the chamber, startling the both of us and we whirled around to see the dragon mother shaking violently. It was a few seconds before we realised it was laughter.

 _There you go, Teito._ She said, still chortling,  _The opinion is universal. And I have confidence that I shall listen to your music before night falls tomorrow._ I must have had an odd look on my face, because Kururu added,  _ **The Fyulong tribe has long had a connection with legends of old. The Legend of the Angel's Eye is no different. You should know that we are part of the fire-starters.**_

"I think I've read that somewhere..." Teito said, looking thoughtful, "...When the apprentice moved to Raefail **[2]** , in search of the circle of light, he encountered the mother of his Fyulong pack again, who'd helped him across the icy ledge. As a token of gratitude, he'd given her his most cherished possession: his amulet. Since then, the Fyulongs migrate to the Church every year to commemorate the passing of the apprentice and light the Holy Torch, the sign of righteousness."

 _Correct._ The mother said. Then, she looked at me,  _Hakuren, will you please escort the child to his room? He should have slept earlier on, but he insisted on practicing for the Festival._

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not a kid. I don't need to rest." Teito muttered, as he pushed against the pillar. The minute he was upright, though, he swayed precariously until he fell. I ran towards him, just managing to catch the boy.

"Teito!" I yelled, as the boy shivered, clutching the guitar to his chest. "D-damn it...I still...!" He whispered, "...I'm fine. Hakuren, please let me go."

Kururu snorted,  _ **You are in no shape to stand, human. Were it not for your friend, you would have injured yourself on the head badly. As someone who has just recovered, you should be more careful.**_

"Tch." Teito muttered as I hefted the guitar on my shoulder and carried him past the two dragons. As I was just about to leave, he suddenly spoke up again, "Umm...Fyulong Mother. You said that your hatchling's name was Kururu...but you never mentioned what your name was."

_Kururu was named by a young Church orphan, Teito. It is not necessary to give dragon children a name. Unlike humans, we never identify others, but merely recognize them as kin or other._

Teito remained silent for sometime. I was starting to worry whether he had passed out, when he replied, "Then...I'll call you Tsukiyomi."

I raised an eyebrow.  _Tsukiyomi?_ I thought, _Dark Moon?_

"It suits you." Teito said, as if by way of explanation, "Most people dread the new moon, but there's a hidden sort of beauty and ferociousness behind the shadow. At least, that's what I think."

The mother laughed again,  _You are truly unique, son of man. Well, then. From now onwards, I am Tsukiyomi._

Teito was quiet as I helped him out. And now that I was free from the mother dragon...Tsukiyomi's sharp gaze, I looked at the boy closely. He was extremely pale and had dark circles; a startling contrast to his pale skin. And now that I thought about it, I had heard the Sisters worry about him often, seeming to think that he suffered from poor health.

_Is that why he was brought to the Church? Maybe. That would explain why the healer, Labrador visits him often._

"You look more tired than me." I started as I realised the face I'd been staring so intently into was peering back into mine. "Far from it. I've never felt better."

Teito rolled his eyes, "I may be a horrible liar, but I know a lie when I see one. And you aren't making much effort to cover up the fib, either." I bristled, "Why should it matter to you if I don't look so good?"

"It matters. Because you're my friend." Teito answered, straightaway. I blinked a little, and ducked my head before answering, "Some relatives of mine are coming to visit."

Teito frowned, but nodded impatiently to let me continue, "And they aren't so enthusiastic that I've taken the path of being a devotee of God. I left my home, so I could pursue my dream, but..."

"You're afraid they backed you to a corner?" I looked at him in surprise, and saw his grave expression. Then, his eyes clouded over and he mumbled so softly that I had to lean in to catch his words, "I don't really get it, but...I'll tell you something. You still have a choice: Keep running away forever...or stay and reason it out. If the time comes, fight. After all...it's your dream."

His head flopped on my arm, with the sounds of soft breathing. I stared at his face, his perfectly calm features in amazement.

"You fell  _asleep?_ " I said, "And in only three seconds? That's too quick!" Without warning, I burst into laughter, surprising even myself. "I have to agree with Tsukiyomi-san. You really are one-of-a-kind. Acting all optimistic like that..." My mood sobered as I thought. Just stay and reason it out, hm?

 _If only it were so easy, Teito._ But he had a point. I was going to face them eventually. Why not now?

I had nothing to lose. I braved the Desert of Seven to reach here, I can sure as hell face my old man.

I think.

I looked towards the boy's sleeping face and smiled.  _I can count on you as my ally...and perhaps my friend. Thank you, the one person I can...truly trust._

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Frau:

They have to be around here. Somewhere.

Normally, even in this huge Church, after a few weeks, anyone could easily manoeuvre the place...well, except a certain brown-haired teen. I'd been here for...almost 14 years, so it shouldn't have been a problem to find what I was looking for.

Only, it was. Because 14 years ago, the whole place was not shrouded in icy, white mist. I squinted through the sheer clouds, looking for brown mud on the emerald grass.

"The one time I actually need nicotine, Glasses gets wind of my stashes." I muttered, as I searched harder, resisting the urge to sift through the mist. I was feeling my way around the branches of a shrub when I heard it.

The slight rustle of the leaves in the wind. The continuous cracks of sole against twigs.

The hiss of a death-rattle.

I whirled around as a figure leaped out at me, screaming inane threats. "Die, son of man!" It yelled. I recoiled and barely managed to avoid its overlong claws.

"A Wars?" I sputtered as the figure turned around to glare at me with cold, dark eyes.  _Impossible!_ My mind screeched at me _, How could it enter the Church with a purification barrier on the area? An illusion?_

 _I wouldn't know._ Said the sardonic voice in my head. Apparently, death-defying situations doesn't shake the sarcasm from its tone,  _But those claws felt pretty real enough, don't you agree?_

The Wars leered at me, and I frowned as I saw the disgusting liquid darkness drip from its teeth.  _This isn't good. That Wars is in an advanced state; it's only a matter of time before the soul is lost forever._

"Alright." I pulled back my sleeve, and groped cold metal blade, grunting as I brought out the scythe. The head of the scythe leered towards the person, drool dripping down the fangs.

"Return to nothing." I closed my eyes as the scythe did its work, feeling a shudder of disgust as a lead taste filled my tongue and a cold ripple travelled down the spine. And when I opened them the Wars was gone.

"Well, what are you still doing out here?" I asked the scythe. It grumbled and protested, but I pushed it back inside the tattoo. Once the job once done, I flicked my arm experimentally, stretching my fingers. "

 _How did a Wars manage to get in here in the first place?_ I thought as I looked at my gloved hands _, It should be next to impossible..._

_Unless someone planted the Wars there._

The thought slipped into my mind, as I automatically spun around to see the gate I came through. The sign was faded, but the curved, calligraphic letters were still clear.

"Barsburg Church...Last Gate...You are now leaving the back garden."

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Normal POV:

The mist was thicker than Frau had realized.

" _Finally._ I thought he would never arrive in time. And I was certain we would have to fight the creature."

"Who told you to place your faith on such an unreliable source?"

"Not like I had a choice. The bishop was the only person who kept 24-hour surveillance on Klein."

"If it were me, I would've done a better job..."

"Now is not the time to decide who is the most superior. You of all people should know that."

A silver knife was flicked towards the bushes, as the person chuckled, "That's ironic. Coming from someone with an agenda against Teito."

"Come on. This is not going to be the last attempt on Klein's life. We should go start preparing."

"You don't need to tell me. Crazy things happen during festivals. And even though the Angel's Eye is an important holy event in the history of the Church, it's still a festival."

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**Author's Notes:**

**[1] Hakuren's free study: Usually, the library is open on all hours, but since the Bishop's Exams are approaching, they have a special private study for two hours. They also bring their friends along for the group study.** **  
**

**[2] Raefail: A place I'd made up. It's quite close to the Fyulong Dragon's nest, so dragon tribe sightings are common in that area.**


	10. Celebrated

Ante Mortem

Chapter 9: Celebrated

Frau:

" _Running away, again, damn brat?"_

" _I...I'm not running away. I just want to get away from_ you!"

While it's true that the boy had several possible reasons for hating me...why did it hurt me so much for him to actually say it?

_There you go again, Frau. Face it. You're worried about the kid again, aren't you?_

_No, I'm not._  I said to the sarcastic asshole in my head. It chuckled in response,  _Then why are you edging back towards the bishop rooms?_

I growled in reply and inhaled deeply from the cigarette in my hand. After today, I needed some nicotine fast, bishop-hood be damned. As the smoke-induced euphoria cleared my mind, I was finally able to think.

So, the brat had been able to predict where the Wars was going to approach the Church. While it was true Labrador had told me the same fact this morning, I hadn't expected the attack to be so soon. I cursed myself for my own idiocy. Glasses was right; I was extremely distracted since I came back from the bishop's trip.

Distracted with protecting the kid from his extraordinary bad-luck streak. I frowned. Teito had an uncanny knack for attracting Kor and while he was able to fight them off-well-enough to have been trained by a master bishop, as a matter of fact-it still didn't explain the army official who was ready to drag the boy back to wherever his Hell was.

Is that where he was running away from or did these people express an interest in him only now? All I knew was that because he had lost his memory, he was in extreme danger.

 _There wasn't any doubt when you reflected upon his amnesia._ The voice in my head noted,  _So you finally started believing him._

_Not like I have a choice now, right?_

_If you want to know the answers so badly, why don't you talk to him? He may not be willing to be near you, but he owes his life to you. He should want to listen._

_It goes both ways now,_ I pointed out,  _I would've died if he hadn't warned me about the Wars._

The voice in my head gave a sardonic laugh,  _In any case, he would still listen to you._

_And why is that?_

_Why don't you find out? You're in front of your room right now._

My head snapped up and I stared at the door. My eyes traced the golden number plate on the door. It was my room alright. And...whose Bascules was that outside? I crumpled the cigarette in my hand and walked in.

The first thing I saw was a small figure lying on the bed, curled up into a small ball under the blankets. "Teito?"

The boy sitting next to him immediately looked up. "Oh...Bishop Frau!" Immediately flustered, he shot out of the chair and bowed deeply, "I'm sorry for intruding in your room! It's just..." He pointed helplessly towards Teito, "...he was extremely tired and I offered to help him walk back here."

"That so?" I looked at the kid again. He was definitely healing; the recent scars on his legs and arms had reduced to lines and all that remained of the wound on his forehead was the marks of stitches.

"Umm...Bishop Frau?"

"You're making me sound like an old geezer. Just call me Frau."

"Frau-san. Is there something wrong with Teito?"

I raised an eyebrow at the question. "You don't think it's just sleep-deprivation?"

"No. Definitely not. No-one sleeps for more than 48 hours and then suffers from sleep-deprivation." He clenched his fists and stared at the ground, "I...want to help Teito in any way I can. He's already helped me so much, without him even realizing it."

_He's the real deal. He truly wants to help Teito._

"Listen up, kid."

"Hakuren. Hakuren Oak."

"Alright then, Hakuren. Do you know the reason why Teito was brought to the Church?"

"No. He wouldn't tell me."

"Teito came to Church because he had been found stranded in the desert." Hakuren's head snapped up, eyes wide, "He was running away...we don't know what from exactly and he can't tell us. I'll explain that in a bit." I added, noting his confused expression, "He collided with us when we were out scouting the area. When Lab and Castor brought him here, they found out that he had injured himself severely and that could have been the main cause for his condition." I took in a deep breath and said with forced certainty, "He's suffering from amnesia."

"A-amnesia?" Obviously, the kid's condition was worse than Hakuren thought. "It's not too serious. He's been recovering his memory little by little, but that's been the main cause of his exhaustion. Lab says it might be because..."

"Teito's suffering from a traumatic past?"

"You catch on quick." The boy's face reddened at the unexpected comment, but he kept his serious expression, "And the memory triggers may be the ones causing his condition."

Hakuren kept quiet for a minute. Then, he asked me, "Why did you tell me all this? You could've explained it away as some lifelong illness or something."

"Because I can see that the kid...Teito trusts you a lot." I cocked my head towards his sleeping form, "If he didn't trust you, he would've waved you off and

try to stumble back here by himself."  _The same could be said for him in your case. After all, he trusted_ you  _enough to let you help him._ The voice whispered in

my mind, but I ignored it.

"Ugh..." The groan came from the bed. We both turned around to see the smaller boy stirring, then turning to the side, shifting himself slightly to

make himself comfortable. "So...he  _was_ just sleeping after all." I could hear the exasperation in Hakuren's voice and resisted the urge to grin. I've been

there too many times to not recognize that tone.

Hakuren stretched and said, "Anyway. It's best that I leave now that I am certain that Teito's not...not hurt worse." He cleared his throat, "Good day, Frau

san." Still red in the face, he walked off.

I made my way to the bathroom as soon as the boy departed. I needed to brush my teeth and fast, before the old geezers noticed the smell of smoke in

my mouth. After a thorough scrub, I was about to proceed out of the bathroom, when a choking noise caught my attention.

"Teito?" I stuck my head out of the bathroom. The brat was wide awake and sitting on the bed, book in his hands. His face...held an expression of

dumbstruck horror.

"What the hell is this?" He sputtered at me, holding the book open. I blinked before I realized what I was seeing, feeling a slow smile creep up on my face. "So, that's where issue 79 went. I wondered."

"You were hiding  _porn_ in the  _library_?" Teito leaped off the bed with startling energy and ran towards his stack of books. Flipping through the books, his expression grew more and more dumbstruck as scantily-clad girl after girl filled his vision.

"Hoho...finding all my books in one shot? You've got quite a nose there, kid." I said. Truth be told, Teito's expression was hilarious.

"That..."Teito muttered incoherently for a while, before forcing himself to pull a calmer demeanour, "...is exactly like you. I thought as much."

"Oh, really?"

"Yup." He put all the books in one stack and sat on the bed, taking in deep breaths. He took one look at my face, glared when he saw my expression, then started all over again, looking anywhere in the room but me.

"Hakuren Oak was really worried about you." I informed him for lack of anything else to say. He looked back at me again, angry expression completely gone, "He wouldn't leave until he was sure you were all right."

"I told him to leave me at the top of the stairs." He said, almost too low for me to hear, "He has exams coming; he's way too stubborn."

"Kid, it wouldn't kill you to let someone else help you for once."

He ignored me, staring at my arm, "...That injury...it looks serious." He pointed to the wad of bandages that concealed my tattoo, "Don't you need to get that treated properly?"

I carefully hid my arm behind my back. "What's wrong with the way I did it?"

He snorted, "A one-armed, visually impaired cripple could have done a better job."

"Maybe I haven't had the time, what with taking care of a bratty stray cat all the time who keeps wandering around." Teito bristled a little at that, but surprisingly kept his mouth shut, "And anyway, I can take care of myself." I walked back toward the door.

"Where are you going?"

"For the record, I'm still a bishop. I have my own duties to perform. And what with the Angel's Eye Festival, things at the Church are crazy lately."

"Can...I help?" I turned around and stared in surprise. Teito was genuinely concerned, looking at me worriedly. "Not in the shape you're in, kid. You can help me by staying put and healing for once."

_And try to stay out of trouble._

_I'd keep a closer eye on things if I were you._ And the voice in my head wasn't sardonic for once.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Hakuren:

"*pant* *pant*Li-*pant*Liam, you have to*pant* go down to*wheeze*the grounds!"

Liam stared at me for a minute, before saying, "Uh...what, Hakuren-kun?"

 _Do I have to say it again?_ I groaned. Ouida fortunately interrupted, "I think Hakuren's referring to the arrival of the head examiner, Bishop Lance."

"Already?"

"...Liam, you were in the library for 5 hours." Liam started a bit and looked outside the window at the dying sunlight outside. "So I was...ahaha."

"Sheesh, you're as bad as him." I muttered, pointing at his older brother. Ouida grinned at me and escorted his little brother to the outside garden. I took in a few deep breaths, trying to regain my composure.

 _That is the last time I run up the staircases._ I thought. It wasn't like I had a choice; all the acolytes had to arrange a greeting ceremony for the examiners. Which reminded me.

I left the library and walked down the staircase, going as fast I can without actually running. They would start without me anyway. "Time flies at this Church." I murmured, looking at the blood-red sky outside.

It seemed like barely a few days since I'd stumbled in front of the Church gate 5 years ago. Now here I was, about to do the Bishop's Exam and take one more step to escape my family's clutches.

 _They've already found you._ The thought crashed through my musings as I remembered my family were invited to the Festival. I sighed,  _There would be a confrontation with them, anyway. Father would not stand by idly, while I became everything the family despises. So it's best to do it now._

Organ music marked the end of Justice Day and the beginning of the Angel's Watch. Despite myself, my spirits uplifted slightly when I heard the gentle, joyful song.

"I'll think about that later." I decided, as I walked towards the main garden. I hadn't walked 10 steps when I stopped and really registered what I'd seen.

10 minutes later, I was still standing there in shock.

The dragon mother was sitting serenely in the middle of the courtyard, looking for all the world as if she did this everyday. Right next to her was Kururu...and Teito, dressed for the occasion in purple robes that almost matched the mother's skin.

And I wasn't the only one dumbstruck by this turn of events.

"Um...I think we stand out." Teito told the dragon innocently as she stared around the courtyard.  _They seem unsure of my presence._ She noted, though she sounded like she was close to laughing,  _And you should know that if you stand next to a dragon and she doesn't try to eat you, then you would be sure to stand out._

"You wouldn't eat me." Teito replied hotly, "And anyway, as an inhabitant of the Church, you should see the Festival too." Kururu snorted and commented,  _ **The human still doesn't get it.**_

 _I am a Fyulong dragon, little one. The fiercest of my kind. Wild dragons are much more harder to tame than you would think._ She sounded serious and mocking, but...wistful somehow,  _You should be afraid._

"Tsukiyomi-san..." Teito sounded angrier than I have ever heard him, "You may be a Fyulong dragon and you may be the fiercest of my kind but you saved my life! Like it or not, I trust you. And that's that."

Tsukiyomi was quiet for a minute before she chuckled,  _Good luck trying to deal with this one, Oak-kun._ It took me a while to realise that she was talking to  _me._

"Hakuren!" Teito waved at me, "Come to enjoy the festival?" I grinned as I approached him, "No. I was actually here to see what the ruckus was about. I should've known you'd be here." Teito frowned, "I came here to accompany Tsukiyomi-san. She said she needed my help with something."

 _I do, but not for a while, little one._ He turned towards her,  _Go enjoy the festival with Hakuren._ He looked slightly worried at that. "Are you sure you both will be alright?"

 _ **Human, how many times must we remind you that we are dragons? We can take care of ourselves.**_ Tsukiyomi nodded and added,  _And remember, this is a Church. We are its guardians and we ourselves are protected as well._ Teito nodded and fell into step with me as I walked to the gates.

"Only you would get involved with dragons and think it's normal." I noted as we walked.

"I don't think it's normal." He told me, looking back at them, "I think it's normal when you help a friend who helps you out. Tsukiyomi-san saved my life before. If it wasn't for her...and Frau, I'd be a Wars' pet plaything by now." He looked solemn at the last part.

"...Anyway, haven't you ever been at a festival, before?"

"Why do you think that?"

"You were staring at everything like a wide-eyed baby bird." He frowned at that, but snorted and kept walking, "...Hakuren?"

"Yes?"

"You know, you would've made a much kinder leader than your father. If you ever took that path." He shrugged, "That's what I feel, anyway." I blinked, then smirked at him and clapped a hand on his back, "Thanks, chibi."

"I am  _not_ a chibi." He protested hotly, "I-"

"So there you are, Hakuren!" I looked up to see Ouida walk towards us, "I wondered where you went to." Teito hung back a little as I greeted Ouida back, probably thinking back to the days where I thought he was a crazy stalker. I smiled wryly as I thought back to those times as well. We both were messed up with similar pasts and troubled presents. Now look where we were.

"Ouida, this is Teito. Teito, meet Ouida. He's one of the acolytes taking the exam with me, my partner." Teito smiled at Ouida and shook hands with him. "It's good to finally meet you." He said, "Hakuren couldn't stop talking about you."

"Really?"

"Well, moaning about you more like." Ouida laughed as I sputtered, "N-not true! Come on, Ouida! I-" I faltered even more as I saw the faint smile on Teito's face, "T-Teito! Don't flatter yourself! I-I was just..."

" _Get down_!" Teito pushed us both down and leaped into the air, narrowly missing the flagpole that was hurled at him like a make-shift spear. My eyes widened as I felt the heat of Zaiphon crackle through the air a few feet behind me.

"Hakuren!" Teito yelled, as he threw his guitar case to the ground, opened it and pulled out a Bascules staff, wielding it over his head. Someone leaped over us, blocking out the sky for a few moments. In the glaring firelight, I saw inhuman eyes stare back at me.

With one mighty  _bam!_  Teito whirled a ball of Zaiphon right at the person, which crashed into the nearby wall. I stared at it in horror as I recognized the man's face.

"Bishop Frau?"

"No. It's merely an impostor." Teito squinted at the thing, "Those...those are manipulating threads." He frowned, "And there's only one person in the entire Church who knows how to use Manipulation Zaiphon."

"Well done, Teito-kun!" I turned around to see a red-headed bishop come towards us. I vaguely remembered him as the one who often accompanied Bishop Labrador.

"Castor-san..." Teito said, raising an eyebrow, "You really have to warn me when you try to do something like that...I thought I was going to die back there."

"I had faith in your abilities, Teito-kun. And I was doing it out of a favour for a friend of mine. Hakuren-kun, I do believe that you know Bishop Lance?" Eyes wide, I looked up to see a blonde-haired bishop stand in front of me, wearing purple robes with a white wrap around the shoulders; the signature robes of an examiner.

"I...I'm very honoured to meet you." I said, nudging Teito in the ribs. He nodded, keeping a cautious eye on the Bishop. Lance smiled, "So this is young Hakuren Oak. I've been hearing good things about you...you are quite accomplished for your age at the art of exterminating Kor."

"Thank you. I've worked very hard on it."

"It shows." He turned towards Teito now and peered at him curiously, "Are you Teito Klein? I've been hearing great things of you as well. The boy who single-handedly stopped a rampaging Kor, and saved this boy's life here. Last I heard, you were something of a hero at the Church." Lance grinned at the now-blushing boy's face. He protested furiously, "They were exaggerating...they..."

"Actually, they didn't exaggerate enough." I said, as I copied Lance's grin. Teito turned to me and protested hotly, "I-is this your idea of revenge or something-?"

"My, my. Someone here is already excited before the festival has begun." Castor said, "Which reminds me. Hakuren, haven't you to go with Bishop Lance and the other acolytes?"

"Oh, right!" I said, turning towards the said Bishop. Lance nodded and said, "Let's go." I followed behind him...and as the Bishop was absorbed in talking to the acolyte that accompanied him, I couldn't help looking back.

Yes, he saved my life. And he continued to save other's lives too, whether they knew it or not. But what about the life that dangles between memory and darkness...who will save his own?

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Teito:

"That was very quick of you, Castor-san."

"For what, Teito-kun?" I raised an eyebrow at the man. Surely, his tactic may have fooled Hakuren, but I was getting pretty good at recognizing a poker face when I see one. After all, I shared a room with a master.

"For knowing...that I wanted to talk to you. About something. In private." I coughed. The man looked at me with a curious half-smile on his face and said, "Go on."

"I wanted to know...what to do about something." For some reason, the topic made me nervous, "Over the past few days, I've been really...busy and agitated lately. It's no excuse...and now I'm sure I hurt someone who just tried to help me."

" _You're_ sure?"

"I don't know, actually. He's so cryptic...I really don't know." I sighed.

"Why don't you just ask him?" I was beyond amazed by this point. The man thought it was seriously that easy?

Then again, he doesn't know I was talking about Frau here...

"He's quite stubborn." I said, "Much more stubborn than any normal, sane person has any right to be."

Castor laughed, "All the more reason to talk to him. Teito-kun, how can you expect him to understand if you can't bring yourself to make him listen?" I blinked a little. It's true; I'd never exactly been clear about what I was saying, either. But...it wasn't my fault! Frau was so damn infuriating...it was all I could do to not rip out my hair then and there.

"Hopefully he'll actually stay in one place and listen to me." I muttered. "I wouldn't know. But Teito-kun has a lot of work to do, too. Just ask the dragon over there." I looked over my shoulder and saw Tsukiyomi edge towards me. "Ah, you're right. Tsukiyomi-san must need my help right now."

"Tsukiyomi?"

"Something that fits her. According to me anyway." I smiled, "I can't keep calling her 'dragon mother' forever.,," I trailed off as I remembered something, "Castor-san, where is Labrador-san?"

The man hesitated. For just a minute, but I caught it anyway. "Labrador is not feeling his best and he won't be able to attend the Festival today."

"I see." I smiled at him, "Well, anyway. I'm off. Oh, and Castor-san." He looked at me, "You can talk to me about anything you want. It's not like I have any memories of what I was like, so I can't judge you."

Saying that, I turned my back towards him and walked towards Tsukiyomi and Kururu. My face must have showed because Tsukiyomi and Kururu had noticed.  _ **You don't look like your arrogant young self, human. Problems even you can't control?**_

"Kururu-san. With all due respect, everyone has problems they can't control." I said, as I turned towards the older dragon, "Tsukiyomi-san, did you want me to help you?"

 _Yes. Little one._ She bowed her head,  _Climb my back._ I blinked. "What?"  
 _Climb on. I need you to help me with my gift for the Eye._ Even Kururu looked shocked,  _ **Mother! What are you saying? Surely you could enlist one of the Bishops to help you...**_

 _It has to be Teito._ She said firmly,  _Little one, would you help me with this task?_

"Of course." I answered immediately, "It's just that I've never ridden a dragon. Bareback or otherwise." Tsukiyomi laughed,  _Little one._ No one  _has ever ridden a dragon, bareback or otherwise._

"Alright then." I clambered onto the dragon's back, settling onto the crook of the neck. She straightened up and roared, rearing to her back legs and nearly throwing me off. "Gaahhh!" I yelled, trying to hold on, "Tsukiyomi-san, what-?"

 _Teito Klein. Listen to what I have to say._ Her voice had gone deathly serious,  _When I need it, you must merge your Zaiphon with my flame and we shall send the stream of holy fire over the Church._ I froze as she reared back on to her feet. "What? I can't! I can barely control my Zaiphon! I couldn't possibly-!"

 _It must be you._ She looked at me, confidence in her bright eyes,  _Only you have the power and the innocence of a true soul of the world. You, Teito Klein are a true human being._

I couldn't say anything. How could I when she trusted me so much? I just nodded, as I felt the blood drain from my face when she flared her wings.  _Hold on._ And we flew out into the terrifying, thrilling starry sky.

I couldn't feel my body any more. If I let out a gasp of air and clung onto the spikes on her skin, I couldn't remember the pain I felt when they pierced my hands. If I saw a blur of the colourful world when tears formed in my eyes as the cold wind stung them, I couldn't remember them.

All I could remember was the beautiful glimmer of the stars as they flew past my fingertips and sparkled just out of reach, the dragon's breathing as she flew higher and higher away from the world below and the incredible rush of adrenalin when I watched it go.

_Ready?_

"As I'll ever be." I said, gripping my Bascules tightly. And I watched the world in front of me drown in white-hot flames.

As it burned, I raised my Bascules in the air and my whisper was lost in the roar of untamed flames, "Please help me thank the people who held me so much...Mikage." And I closed my eyes as the Zaiphon flowed through me and joined Tsukiyomi's flame. I heard the gasps of the people below as the star trail we left behind burned in the holy flame we cast, flowing like a precious diamond stream over the Church. Beginning to end, we created a circle of protection around the place.

 _Thank you._ Tsukiyomi whispered, then she declared for everyone to hear,  _People of the Church, acolytes and Bishops, I hereby declare my thanks to the Church that had sheltered my young fledgling and I and had given us with the price of my flame. And I'm sure he would like to thank you as well._ She looked at me with sparkling eyes. Feeling all eyes on me, I nodded, face flushing. With a roar of laughter, she tucked her wings in and dove towards the ground, drawing up sharply and jostling me thoroughly. "Geh." I mumbled, pushing myself upright.

 _ **What a dignified landing.**_ Kururu snorted. I ignored her and bowed to Tsukiyomi, "Thank you, Tsukiyomi-san, for letting me experience such an amazing thing."

 _Teito._ Tsukiyomi said,  _Your evening is far from over. I remember you saying something about dedicating a song to them?_

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Teito:

"What a day." I said to myself, as I walked through the empty corridor alone. I still couldn't shake the blinding colour of flame from my eyes, as it continued to dance in front of me. I raised my head towards the sky and squinted to see the white-blue mist that scattered the sky like lazy snowflakes.

"I wasn't expecting the protection Zaiphon to last this long." I noted, as I continued walking along the corridor. I still had a lot of free time before I sleep, so I was thinking of visiting the sanctuary. I was curious to see the diamond-glass cross that changed colours.

As I walked, my thoughts turned once again towards the incredible celebrations; the fire-dancers, the curious children that wanted to play with Kururu(who grudgingly let them do so), the Zaiphon battles, the speeches, and the contentment of watching the fire reach towards the sky.

People had taken the song quite well. Better than I expected. And I honestly never believed that they would make a big fuss of my riding Tsukiyomi and fighting off the Frau doll...

Wait a minute. Was that Frau? I backtracked a bit and saw the man standing in the middle of the graveyard I'd passed by earlier. The man was so tall, it was easy to spot him, even in the dark night.

He wasn't wearing his regular white robes; they were deep black with gold lining. Mourning robes.

Why did the sight of it fill me with dread?

_**I wake up in the morning** _

_**One day** _

_**Can't explain why I feel this way** _

_**Don't know where** _

_**Don't know why** _

_**Can't decide** _

_**Who I've become...** _

"It's cold out here." I said, wrapping my robes closely around my body. The man didn't even seem to notice the cold, staring intensely at the grave in front of him.

 _Assistant Archbishop Bastien,_ it read,  _Remembered forever for his good deeds to mankind, loyalty as a friend and by one special person as a mentor._

"He meant a lot to you, didn't he?" I asked. Still he did not answer, the cold, dead look still in his eyes.

_**Where did I go?** _

_**Travelling down the dusty road** _

_**What did I know?** _

_**That made me become who I am** _

_**I'll just keep walking on for you** _

_**And try to find out the truth** _

"Do you know why kindness exists, Teito?" The man's sudden question caught me by surprise. I looked up and saw his grim face, "It's because when kindness exists, it makes you forget pain and loss, and makes you remember your worth. But kindness is just that. Mere kindness. It blinds you from seeing the true worth of a person."

Taken aback by his sudden vindictiveness, I looked at the grave again. Something about being here agitated him and it wasn't just the grave before us.

_**In this dream, where snow falls to the sky** _

_**The world that was upside down** _

_**I feel so right** _

_**So right in a world so wrong** _

_**Until I fall, I'll keep trying** _

_**Making us a dream that lasts the future** _

_**The world dying Ante Mortem** _

"If kindness exists for that reason...I don't mind." He must have been taken aback by my words, choosing to remain silent, "Because no matter what reasons people have for keeping me alive, they've kept me alive and I owe them for that. Even if they weren't pure as the driven snow, even if they were escaping from a tragic, sinful past of their own making, they've kept me alive. And I will always owe them for that." I coughed and looked up at the man, "I...what I mean is, I wanted to say thank you for saving my life. I would've died...no, been worse than dead if you hadn't saved me. And I was so selfish and arrogant, I...I've kept..."

"Brat, what the hell you saying?" He said. My knees buckled suddenly as a hand landed heavily on my shoulder, "You don't have to thank me for kicking Kor ass. I do it on a daily basis anyway; you were just another day's work."

_**And when I fall down crying,** _

_**I won't close my eyes,** _

_**Never surrender, never give up,** _

_**Because I know you still wait for me,** _

_**I won't stop trying till I make us a dream** _

_**For the world dying Ante Mortem** _

"...Moron." I muttered, slapping his hand away, "I try to thank you properly and this is what I get." Peeking under closed lids, I groaned when I saw that cocky grin back on his face again.  _He's back to his own self alright._ "I'm sleepy, let's go back to the room already."

"Sure thing, kid. Want me to read you a bedtime story?"

"Hell no." I answered immediately, "The last thing I want is to have nightmares about poorly-dressed women."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

_**You always said there were a 100 ways** _

_**To die, please keep living** _

_**One way to live in this crazy world** _

_**Is to pretend we die every day** _

_**Along with it** _

_**Whenever I crash and burn** _

_**Feeling like this was it** _

_**You keep pushing me on** _

_**And believe in me as I take my step forward** _

_**So, I'll always walk on this blood-dry path** _

_**Die with the world, fight to survive yet another day** _

_**And live with the world Ante Mortem.** _

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Normal POV:

"Oi, brat. Hurry up already."

"I'm  _coming_  already! Jeez, hold up damned bishop!"

"If you weren't sick and technically having a reason to act like a puny, little girl, I'd be ragging you to the next century, kid."

Teito whacked the man on the back of the head, "One good thing about having a Bascules." He growled, waving the sceptre around like a broom, and stomping ahead of the bishop. Frau grinned, "Now you really are acting like a scorned teenage girl."

Teito didn't listen but kept moving forward, muttering incoherent things under his breath.

"Kid, I'm talking to you."

"Shut up, annoying bishop."

"Want to tell me why you're acting like the spoiled brat you exactly are?"

"Because I'm stuck with a damned bishop who can't take a hint when it's staring at his face."

"Now what is that supposed to mean...kid?"

It struck him like a bell, the terrible, awful feeling of cold lead creeping up his soul, worse than the time that he fought the Wars. As Teito stared into his face, all he saw was cold, soul-less eyes staring back at his.

" _It's been a while, damned bishop._

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	11. Scarred

Ante Mortem

Chapter 10: Scarred

Castor:

Midnight. It was the point of time where anything was possible and anything would happen.

It sounds far-fetched coming from my mouth, as people would often remind me. But with all that had happened to me in the past few years I've served the Church and God, I honestly didn't know what to scoff at and what to believe. All I knew was I had to trust what I felt was right.

And now, as I watched Labrador struggle to open his eyes and look at me, I knew something was very wrong.

"Labrador?" I asked as calmly as I could, gripping the wall tightly with my hand. Labrador didn't respond, as his gasps quietened down to shallow breathing. Finally, he took a shaky breath and opened his eyes.

"Castor." He greeted me with a weary smile, "I'm sorry to keep you up...but I have some grave news."

"Are you alright?" I cut in, entering the room and helping him sit down. He tried to shake me off, but I persisted. Finally, as we sat across the table, he said, "The ones after Teito-kun are nearing as you very well know. However, I have underestimated what resources they possess." He rubbed his forehead wearily, "These people have the backing of the Barsburg empire behind them and they will stop at nothing to capture the boy. Not even if it means threatening innocents of the Church. And knowing how the boy is, he will surely go to them without hesitation if it saves the lives of others." His face clouded, "However, the very instant that his fate is handed to the likes of them, he himself will be lost to Darkness, and the Church shall perish."

"...Perish?"

"I saw so much war. And death and destruction. I saw the Church as it fell under fire. I saw the Pope die. I saw...the king take full reign over the Seven Districts...what was left of them, that was. That all happened only after Teito surrendered himself to the Army."

"Where does that leave us now?" I was surprised my voice was so calm. Really, with the amount of trouble this boy had caused in the past, it was probably a blessing that he had forgotten everything.

"Right now, we must protect Teito." Labrador shook his head at my expression, "Yes, we do not know whether he intentionally caused these disturbances, but he came here and we must protect him. After all he had gone through and after all that we have seen, can we truly doubt the authenticity of his condition?" He smiled sadly, "You yourself had seen how his soul looked after all."

My eyes closed and I sighed. Really, Teito Klein was more trouble than I expected. But...Labrador was right. I opened my eyes and was about to explain the reasons for my suspicions, when I felt it.

Labrador's eyes widened and he stood up before I did. "Castor! The hallway!"

"On it." I rushed out the open door, hearing the fading footsteps of the violet-haired man as I left him behind. The horrible feeling still lingered, like icy water to bare skin, it seemed to revel in the fear that pounded into my blood.

Now I was close enough to sense the presence fully, I saw the silvery-white shape that loomed in the starry sky beyond the marble hallway. As I neared, another presence slammed into me.  _Glasses,_ no!

 _What the hell are you_ doing,  _Frau?_ I roared, upon recognizing the presence blocking the first one. He was barely fazed at my anger, concentrating on the unknown shadow in front.

_I'm trying to solve this mess. Now please, back off, or else both of us are screwed._

_What are you trying to do?_ I shouted, as I slowed down by a meagre amount. I heard his bitter laugh as I raced towards the corridor ahead.

_Playing the hero._

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Frau:

I felt Castor's footsteps stumble towards a soft pattering of slow walking and almost sighed in relief. Pissed or not, at least he was listening to me. The last thing we want to do is agitate the boy in front of us.

I studied him closely. No strange markings, no stench of death. Nothing that marked the boy as a Kor or Wars...except for the presence that lulled over his soul.

" _Really, bishop._ " The being smirked at him,  _"The least you could do is extend a welcome towards me. You owe me that much after I saved your life before."_

"I'm not exactly in the mood for pleasantries. It's 1 o' clock in the morning if you hadn't noticed."

" _Time means nothing to me. I live merely in the present."_ Teito walked over to the pillar and leaned against it, eyes closing,  _"But you are right. This boy is worn out because of the long day and the hour is taking a toll on him. So I'll make this quick."_ He leered at me,  _"You wish to know what I am, do you not?"_

"Anyone would, especially if they were almost attacked by the creature who asks them."

The boy scowled,  _"Foolish human. That creature was not planted there by me. Did it not strike you that I may have forewarned you to save your skin?"_

"Why would you do that?" I asked carefully, leaning on the pillar opposite Teito's.

" _Make no mistake; I do not do this out of concern for your worthless existence. I merely think of this boy's."_ He pointed towards himself,  _"If you ceased to exist, then the boy would be vulnerable towards the evils that reach for his soul."_

"And why are you so concerned about the kid?"

" _Because of the shadows he faces. Sure, they might be harmless enough now-"_ I raised an eyebrow. Harmless? " _-but one day they will turn on him and attack. No-one else seems to be aware of this truth, save for you and the mother dragon of the Church."_ He snorted,  _"Really, what have the Houses of God come to?"_

"If you were so concerned about Teito Klein's well-being..." I said finally, "...then why would you put his soul in danger by using his body to warn me?"

" _Damned bishop. I would not go as far as that."_ Looking extremely pissed, he stomped towards me and poked me in the chest with his finger, " _I would never sacrifice his immortal soul, not at any price."_ He looked away, and I strained to catch his next words, " _Not even for_ that."

"That?"

" _None of your business. So."_ He pointed towards me again,  _"I leave Teito Klein's life in your hands. Take complete responsibility for it."_ His face darkened into a sadistic smile, " _Or else."_

"You know, you and Castor would have been soul-mates for life if you could meet him right now." I felt Glasses stiffen indignantly at that and grinned.

" _Cas-tor?"_ He asked, pronouncing the name uncertainly.

"Just talking to myself. Now...I'll keep your promise if you answer me this." Teito scowled, but nodded. "...What are you to Teito Klein?"

He smirked, " _If you play the "Friend or Foe" game like this, you are likely to get yourself killed. But I will humour you, just this once. I am Teito Klein's worst enemy and I am not. I am Teito Klein's best friend and I am not. However, whatever you call me, I know him better than anyone else. His tragic past is one that I am all too familiar with."_ He laughed at the expression on my face, " _You seem quite upset with the last remark. Lighten up, bishop. Take my advice and live for the present. Whatever past he has faced, he is here now and ready to get his strength back. You should know that it's possible."_  Without any warning, he grabbed my hand.

I tensed, waiting for the blow that was sure to come, trying to restrain myself so I don't hurt the kid. I was surprised, then, when he pressed my hand gently against his cheek.

" _After all...you know more about his soul than even_ I  _do."_ He whispered, staring at me solemnly. I swiped my hand away from his, looking at him, straight in those dull jade eyes, "Why...if you know so much about me and what I could do, why entrust  _me_ with the kid's life?"

" _Because you're the only one he truly trusts. He's not aware of it, but I am."_ He smiled before he closed his eyes and leaned on my hand. I barely managed to catch Teito before he hit his head on the ground.

The icy chill that struck my mind while Teito had been possessed suddenly lifted and I stared at the boy that moaned sleepily in my arms.

"Nnn...Frau?" He mumbled, staring up at me.

"Damned brat. Quit running ahead of me so much; you nearly fell and hit your head. Again." I rolled my eyes at him, "You might enjoy the nuns fawning over you, but there's no need to give yourself self-induced memory loss."

Teito glared and brained me for that one. Sleep-deprived or not, that kid threw a pretty mean punch.

"Idiot.  _You_ should quit screwing around and get to the room already. It's...what, 2 o'clock in the damn morning now." He reminded me, as he stomped ahead of me.

"Like I said, I wasn't in the mood for pleasantries."

"Hmm?"

"Nothing. I thought you were in such a hurry to get to bed. Really, with the amount of sleeping you do nowadays, you should be a head taller than me right now."

"Idiot pervert."

_Frau, I want a full report tomorrow._

I didn't even bother replying. Can't make a promise when I know I can't keep it. Besides, wasn't it his idea for me to keep an eye on the kid? I took care of things myself, that was the way I do things around here. I smirked as I heard Castor process my thoughts and mutter,  _God save us all._

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- x

Teito:

The last thing I remember was the soft feeling of down-feather and silk.

The next thing I knew, I was staring at the dawn of a new day.

"...Morning? Already?" I asked, rubbing my eyes groggily and rolling to my side, away from the sun...until it struck me that the movement should have dumped me on the floor. And it felt  _incredibly_ comfortable for a plain old seating recliner...I pulled myself up on to my knees and stared at the sheets before me.

"That...damned...can't he take no for an answer?" What was his problem? I didn't mind sleeping on the sofa; in fact wasn't that mandatory for someone in my situation?

Not according to him anyway, it looks like. That poor excuse for a bishop didn't even have the nerve to protest, waiting until I fell asleep...and...carrying me towards...the...uh...bed. To my eternal embarrassment, I peeked at the glass wall and saw an extremely red-faced boy.

If Frau was around now...I looked around but of course he wasn't there. He usually did this everyday, going out in the dead of night for who-knows-what (and I sincerely did not want to know what), and coming back only by mid-afternoon. I yawned and dragged myself to the bathroom, blinking at my reflection in the mirror.

"Well, you don't look like shit. At least for today." I told it, grinning faintly. In fact...I felt good. Better than I had in a long time. After finishing up, I left the room and walked outside.

The air still crackled with the energy of last-night's celebrations, and the stalls still stood on the pavement leading to the Church doors. Even though the main celebrations were yesterday, the Church inhabitants were still in a festive mood and the firework barrier the Fyulong dragon had cast around the Church still sparkled in the rising sun.

I squinted up at the sky and sighed. With so much uproar in the air, I wouldn't be able to research anything today. Hakuren was probably with the other acolytes, studying with Bishop Lance. And the other two bishops were busy doing their Church duties...

"T...Teito-niichan?" A little voice asked, and I looked down to see a very familiar little kid swamped in white Church robes.

"Capella? What are you doing here?"

"I...I was on my way to the gardens." Capella deliberately kept his face away from me, turning towards the fountain outside. "Alright, then. I'll walk you there, if you want."

"No! I mean..." Capella said wildly with a look of panic as he turned to face me. I carefully kept my face blank when I realized what I was seeing, Was that why he was so afraid to look at me? Honestly, the kid will never learn. I reached inside the pocket of my robes and pulled out a tissue.

"Here." The kid looked anxiously at me, and seeing the tissue, took it shakily. "T-thank you." Wiping his eyes, he looked up at me curiously and said, "Teito-niichan...um..."

"What?"

"On that...yesterday..." He took a deep breath, then blurted out, "when you were riding the dragon, niichan looked so cool! And now niichan is helping me, so much and...I haven't thanked niichan yet..." I blinked as the boy twisted his robes, looking flustered, "And...and niichan never laughs at me. Nicchan is always so kind and I wanted to help niichan, so I made this." Only then did I notice the white cloth he held in his hands. On the hand was a gold border line and a tiny, incredibly detailed picture of a boy in Church robes riding a Fyulong Dragon.

"Did you make this?"

"Yes. I...if you don't like it, you don't have to take it, niichan!"

"This is amazing! You have wonderful talent, Capella." I said, raising it to the light. "Um...I haven't had time to finish it properly."

"It's perfect." I said, smiling. Capella blinked a little before giving a relieved smile. He was about to say something, when a familiar voice called out, "Up and about, damned brat? That's a start."

Immediately, my smile vanished. I glared at Frau, who calmly stood behind me, clearly having just arrived back to the Church. He hadn't even changed out of his normal clothes yet. "Don't call me a brat!" I muttered. He ignored me, as usual, just staring at me with a smile on his face.

"W-what is it?" I asked.

"Nothing. You look much better today." I blinked at him. He was...he sounded sincere for once. Huh. He was worried about me? While I stared at him, not knowing what to say, he threw a dark cloak at me. "Put that on and hurry up. You've got some work to do."

"Huh? What?" I sputtered, as he grabbed me by the collar and threw me over his shoulder easily, like I didn't weigh more than a feather. "Let me go, you damned perverted bishop!" I yelled, hitting him as hard as I could. "Shut up." He said calmly, not even flinching against my fists. I looked up to see Capella's shocked face before we turned the corner.

"Why'd you have to go and pick me up like that, right when I'm talking to him?" I demanded, "I-"

"That was a pretty good thing you did there, kid."

I stopped struggling abruptly when I heard the sincere tone in his voice again. Barely, just barely I could see a hint of a smile on his face, but he kept his eyes away from mine. "Any problem?" I said to him, feeling the heat return to my cheeks again.

"Nope. But it makes me worried about you. You look like the type that can get spirited away," He paused, then added in a low voice, "by booger monsters."

"Stop screwing around!" I snapped at him, while he grinned at me, "Anyway, put me down already! I have to go to the library for something!"

"No can do, kid. You've got a job today, and I don't want you skipping your first day, so I was specially recommended." He said. I froze. Special job? With  _him?_

"Yes, I can see how Archbishop-sama thinks that you are a great influence on the Church." I snorted. Frau ignored me again, throwing me heavily on a very uncomfortable, spiky metal

"Ow! What-?" I was abruptly cut-off as the thing below me gave a protesting squawk and vibrated a little. " _Geh_!" I hurriedly clambered off the thing and stood a few feet away from it. "What the hell is that?"

"That is a hawkzile. Fastest mode of transportation around." He said with a smudge of reverence, "We're going to need it to travel all the way to the Sixth District."

"Why are we going all the way to the Sixth District?" I swear I saw the man shiver a little before composing himself and replying, "That old geezer couldn't find a less-traumatizing punishment for me and so he suggested that I...go  _grocery-shopping_ for the Church." He frowned, "I knew I wasn't going to be able to stand the boredom alone, so I needed someone to come with me."

"And I happened to be that someone?"

"Well, it was either you or Castor. And I prefer a spoiled brat to cart around to a four-eyed self-righteous  _nun_." I rolled my eyes, but sighed and said, "I don't have a choice here, do I?"

"Hey, don't let the doom and gloom get you down. There's always a ray of light on the horizon." He threw a book at me, "I'm hunting down the next issue of that magazine, so holler if you see one."

"Like hell I will!" I yelled, throwing the porn magazine back at him. Shrugging the cloak around my shoulders, I sat on the hawkzile and huffed, "Hurry up and let's go already."

"Alright."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- x-x-x

Frau:

_Maybe I should've gone with Castor instead._

Now there was something that I was sure as hell not going to say out loud. Even if Glasses was "checking up" on me (call it what you want...but it's usually called stalking, Castor) and reading my thoughts right now, I wasn't going to give him that satisfaction.

But I was starting to regret asking Teito to help me out. He turned out to be everything I knew that he would be in the short time I knew him; just, kind and every bit as pious as Castor himself. Maybe even more.

So, he was not going to let me buy porn, he was not going to let me buy more cigarettes or booze and he was definitely not going to let me talk with the pretty girl by the counter without putting up a huge fuss.

Perfect day.

I went back to those times when the only stressful things were Church duties and the old geezer breathing down my neck. Then, I run into him and, most literally, catapulted straight to the gates of Hell.

"Oi, damned bishop! Wait up!" I snapped back to attention and raised an eyebrow at the kid behind me, struggling to keep up.

"What, brat? Tired out already?" I asked him.

"Yeah, right! Why do you keep walking off like that?" He asked.

"So many different places to be, so little time." I leered suggestively down the shady alleyways of the town. On seeing Teito blanch, I gave him a grin, "What? The little kid afraid of breaking the rules for once? I won't run off and tell mommy, in case you're wondering."

Teito punched me in the ribs for that one.

"I'm not! In case you're forgetting, I live in a  _Church._ "

"I do too."

"A fact that never ceases to amaze me." He muttered, stalking ahead of me. "Well, someone has a lot of energy all of a sudden." I said, as I hefted up the plastic bags again and continued walking down the street.

"Aren't those heavy?"

"Not when you're bulked up like me, brat."

"Don't be so full of yourself, idiot."

We continued towards the Hawkzile in silence, until I noticed he kept staring at me. "What is it?" I asked.

"Why did you become a bishop? You don't really seem like the type."

I snorted, "Thanks for that."

"It's only the truth." He kept looking at me, waiting for my answer. I continued, "Yes, I know myself that I'm hardly the ideal clergyman, as everyone never hesitated to remind me. But I wanted to become a bishop, because I wanted to save lives." My voice had lowered until it was barely audible, "I never wanted someone to die a senseless death ever again."

"Is it because of...Bastien-san?"

Teito still remembered? As if he could read my thoughts, the kid said, eyes downcast, "I would never forget something like that. Even I could see that he meant a lot to you."

"He took me in when I was an orphan. Raised me like his own son. There was never a time that he always regretted taking me in, even with all the mischief I'd caused." I smiled, "I was something of a trouble-maker even then."

"I'll bet." Teito said, a faint grin on his own face, "And then?"

"And then he died." My voice had completely lost any effect of light conversation, taking on a hollow tone. There was something in my eyes that made Teito uncomfortable and he looked away, "I see."

The uncomfortable silence dragged on, and I felt my footsteps grow heavy as I moved forward. Why did I tell him? I hadn't told anyone about Bastien ever since that awful day...where a young boy lay torn and bleeding on the streets, eternally shamed for the whole world to see.

"Well...it's not like I had any experience about this kind of thing." He finally said, "It's just...I think it hurts because he loved you so much. I mean..." He continued on seeing my face, "People face love and loss all the time; it's the universal truth." His large green eyes were mournful and sad, "I, on the other hand, had remembered someone. He used to be best friends with me...Mikage was. And now, I don't know where he is or whether he remembers me...or whether he too is dead. But, I...I know how it feels to lose someone. So, I want you to share what you feel." He looked anywhere but me at this point, a faint blush adorning his cheeks, "If not with me, at least with someone else. I..." He coughed self-consciously, with a childish scowl before continuing, "I think it's stupid to suffer by yourself when you have people to care for you."

I stared at him, as he looked at the throng of people around us in the street, with a longing look on his face. He'd been acting so normal, so much like a 16-something teenager that I'd almost forgotten about the thing that brought him to the Church in the first place; his memory loss.

Without even knowing whether he was a sinner or a God-fearing kid, orphan or royalty, loved or damned. Was the trauma the kid faced so horrible that he blocked out his memory?

"Could it be you actually care about me, kid?" I teased, ruffling his hair lightly. He slapped my hand away. "Arrogant bastard." He muttered, but very softly and the sadness didn't leave his eyes.

"Geez, calling me that when I went out of my way to get this for you. Such a grumpy brat."

"Who're you calling a...huh?" He stuttered to a halt, mid-rage when he saw the little sack in his outstretched hand; dark brown with a golden tie. Undoing the thread, he peered inside to see tiny little marbles winking at him in the wintry sun, each dyed in a different colour.

"Since you seemed to be so concerned about Capella, I took the opportunity to get him one too." I said, holding up an red sack with an identical golden thread.

He looked above the rim of the sack, and with the first true smile I had ever seen said, "Thank you, Frau."

I grinned and reached out to pat his hair, "Anytime."

The change didn't happen immediately. Or noticeably for that matter. It started slowly, like the haunting cry of a dying bell as it rung out its last serenade over the snowy horizon, the clear crystal tone that I had heard only once before, when I was forced to make a pact to save this boy's life.

Suddenly, I felt a shift in the air and a subtle presence that lingered near my ear. A whisper on the wind.

I stopped reaching out towards the brat and looked straight into those expressive jade eyes. As I thought, they were a little off.

"How long are you planning on keeping up this masquerade?"

Teito's smile turned grim and the world around me suddenly went white, the wind whipping around my cloak and hair until the storm died down to reveal an engraved glass-and-ivory-metal cage whose clear walls surrounded the area, completely shutting us away from the rest of the world. Outside, the people continued with their lives, unaware of the drama that remained hidden from them.

In Teito's place stood a very young child possibly not older than 10, with pink hair and eyes. Yet, despite hir **[1]**  the child was decked in black-and-gold, the colours of the people who were out to get Teito.

I frowned at him, slowly reaching for my bandaged arm, "Who are you?"

A man had suddenly appeared by hir side, blue eyes guarded and wary, as he shielded the child. He smirked at me, "You appear well, Zehel."

"Better than the last time you saw me. Now for the last time who are you?"

"Kuroyuri." The child stated, "And this is Haruse. We are here to capture Teito Klein."

"Are you going to kill him?"

"Do not worry yourself, bishop. Our objective is to bring him back  _alive._ Using force, if necessary." Sie **[1]** said, "So why don't you hand him over to us and spare us the drama?"  
I snorted, "If you think that dealing with me is going to be that simple, you are in for some real shit."

"Dealing with an 07-ghost is never simple."

"Then you know what I can do." I took in a deep breath and gritting my teeth, I forcibly wrenched my soul from the body. Free from its earthly ties, my soul rejoiced in the feeling of cold, as it leered at them through hooded eyes. One hand pointed towards them; long skeletal bones that hovered imperiously through black shreds of a robe.

"I swear to you upon the name that forever binds me to my task, I, Zehel, will forever protect this child, no matter what be the consequences." As I spoke the words, I felt a ripple pass through the air and a satisfied smile watch over me..

"Oh, really? Even when the child himself may fear the wrath of a shinigami **[2]**?"

"I will always protect Teito Klein."

Kuroyuri chuckled, "Maybe you should ask him yourself if he is willing to be protected by you." Eyes that no longer existed widened and I turned around to see a small figure hunched over my vacant body. Now that my focus had broken, I was able to hear the screams that pierced the silence.

"Frau! Frau, wake up! You have to wake up, you'll die in this cold!" Teito's hands hovered shakily over my heart, which hadn't produced a beat in a lifetime's worth of seconds. Tears pouring down his cheeks, he cradled my face in his hands, "Don't leave me...don't leave me, you damned bastard." He choked out, with a heart-breaking cry of a shattered child.

While I stared on in horror, Kuroyuri raised an arm and a jet of Warsphile **[3]** flew through the air, headed straight for the boy.

" _NO!"_ The shout that echoed in the sky was barely human, even more so because I had uttered it. Racing through the air, I willed the scythe to reach out and cut through the darkness that threatened the boy's life. His eyes looked up, clouds of grief vanishing as his eyes-impossibly-met mine.

I turned my back to him, scythe facing outwards towards them. "Return to nothing." I stated coldly.

But before the scythe could even inch towards them, the Warsphile aura completely surrounded them, and they disappeared in its depths.

As I turned around to face the boy, after all this time, I dreaded what there was to see in those jade eyes. His face was blank with shock, but his arms remained protectively over my body, clenching his fists unconsciously.

I lowered my face to his and put one hand over it. "Damned brat," I whispered, "I will never leave you."

Before his eyes had time to widen, I muttered, " _Sleep.",_ and watched the light within them flicker and die in the darkness of a dream.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- x

Teito:

Unlike how it usually was, as I was surrounded by blank darkness, I knew exactly where I was. In the clutches of another nightmare.

But instead of the dream that usually played-image or memory- I stared at the empty darkness in empty silence. Something was different today...was my mind in shock? It occurred to me that a lingering feeling of dread and sadness remained in me, the remnants of the events of that day.

Events? What events?

As I pondered upon this, I felt something sweet touch my tongue. It was vibrant and warm, with the energy of new life and within it, I felt the strength to open my eyes.

"Good evening, Teito-kun." Labrador said, as he pulled the clear glass cup away from my face. I just barely managed to speak through the soreness of my throat. "Sweet..."

"Yes. That is a special concoction of flower tea." His smile, I noticed dully, was somewhat guarded. I pulled myself of the bed and said, almost whispered, "How did I get here?"

"Frau brought you back here." My eyes remained blank, but widened just a bit. "Did I faint again?"

"Yes. I took the opportunity to wake you up for dinner, Teito-kun. You need to eat to keep your strength up. Can you walk?" I nodded and tested my feet carefully on the floor. After deeming that my legs were able to bear my weight, I said, "Thank you, Labrador-san. I imagine I may have caused you to worry about me."

"Frau was very worried about you too."

 _Frau..._ I felt a rough stirring of emotion within me, but I pushed it back down again. I was in no condition to handle the turmoil of my feelings now. I needed to eat to keep my strength up...

Stumbling out of the room and towards the dining room, I sighed and kneaded my forehead. My head hurt worse than before, if that was even possible. As I slowly walked through the dining hall, taking deep breaths to calm down when I ran, quite literally into Castor. "Oh, Castor-san! I'm so sorry...!" I said hastily. The man smiled, "No problem, Teito-kun. I must say, I'm glad to see you awake again. Please have something to eat now."

"Thank you...how did I faint again, Castor-san?"

"As a matter of fact, that's what we're trying to figure out, Teito-kun. You seemed perfectly healthy when you left...did you perchance remember anything?"

"No."

"Did you see anything strange...something that could explain your fainting?"

"No." Why was this feeling less and less like friendly concern and more like an investigation. His eyes were completely shielded by the glare of his glasses, as he spoke the next sentence,

"Teito, what do you know of the 7 Ghosts?"

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

**Author Notes:**

**[1] Sie, hir: These are actually gender-neutral and are perfect to use on Kuroyuri. Hey, if Wikipedia can do it, I can too!**

**[2] Shinigami: Japanese term for "God of Death". As Frau is Zehel, who essentially cuts a soul's ties to the world(please read the manga for more info!) this term suits him perfectly.**

**[3] Warsphile: In the 07-Ghost world, it means "black magic" and is generally bad for any soul as it draws the soul towards darkness. Please see the manga and anime for more info!**


	12. Blamed

Ante Mortem

Chapter 11: Blamed

Teito:

The pencil that remained in one place over the worn-out paper.

The endless teardrops that fell from the sky.

And the dull green eyes that stared at them...watching them as they fall.

...No, that wasn't right.

I sighed and pushed the wet brown hair that hung over my eyes. Really...how long had I been here? I looked at the storm-wreath of clouds that surrounded the Church.

My eyes roved over the leaves and flowers, now dark green and stormy grey in the presence of clouds, over the marble archway that guarded me from the fierce typhoon of wind and water, brought to life by the occasional stream of lightning...and finally, I looked at the brown-yellow piece of paper that lay open in front of me.

Unmarked. Empty.

I held my pencil up against the sky, as if hoping that it could magically hop out of my hand and write the song for me.

"That sounds insane. Even to me."

_**Insane...** _

"But I should probably get used to the feeling."

_**Crystal raindrops...** _

I closed my eyes and felt a wistful smile tug at my lips when I felt the drops hanging in my hair fall a few inches away from my eyelids.

_**Fake tears that cry for me...** _

_When did the world stop making sense?_

_**When I remember I'm dead to you...** _

_No. He's the one..._

I felt an unnatural warmth on my cheek and my fingertips touched hot water that mixed with the cold on my face. I sat up straight and quickly wiped the tears away, then slumped on the stone bench.

Really. When had I started crying so hard for something I didn't even know?

Someone I didn't know...

No. That was a lie. Another in a long list that kept going on.

The fragments of a tune that kept tugging at my mind, one that I hadn't heard in weeks. Soft and wistful, the sound of fingers against warm water, fluid-like yet solid...

And the words that would never, ever leave my mind again.

_I had stared at him, feeling a smudge of confusion show on my blank, emotionless face._

" _Seven Ghosts? The...the legacy of the Church, right?"_

_Castor had nodded and said, "Yes. The guardians of each District who protect innocent and wayward souls from harm. Have you ever heard their legend?" The confusion I felt a little while back was replaced by a frown, the only indication of a slow rise of a mixture of emotions...confusion, irritation...and dread?_

_Ridiculous. What do I have to fear? "No. I'd come across them from time to time when I was researching Kor, though." He leaned towards me slightly and the glare of light on his glasses slightly faded so I could see the man's eyes stare at me in an almost cold manner._

" _They are death gods, Teito-kun. Their families carry the accursed bloodline, which grants them supernatural powers, powers beyond their wildest imaginations. The ability to purify Kor and even Wars without a Bascules, the power to outlive the human lifespan and the power to observe and reach in a person's soul."_

" _They could purify Kor without a Bascules...?" Without a bascules...I felt the memory of a moonless night stir at the back of my mind, but along with it the feeling of dread increased. "That's not possible."_

" _It is. Teito-kun, do you know what the Bascules is meant to be?"_

" _A tool where the user can channel the purifying power of the soul and send it to the Kor to erase the monster's darkness."_

" _Yes. But these descendants could not bear to use the Bascules due to the blood and the unholy power that runs through them."_

" _...I see." My face was drained of emotion again, but the weariness was evident in my voice, "Castor-san, why are you telling me all this?" Almost as if he flipped a switch, his kind demeanour was back. Some part of my mind that was not sleep-deprived told me that this man would be very dangerous to anger. "Because I think that if you learn more about the 7 Ghosts, you will be able to do better research. After all, they are the personification of Verloren, the creator of Kor and Wars."_

" _I see. Well...Castor-san, if you don't mind, I'd like to go back to my room. I need to rest some more." I said, trying to smile at him._

" _Of course." I walked up to the door and as I was about to pass through the doorway, he said, "Teito-kun, there is one thing you may need to know about the 7 Ghosts."  
"And what's that?"_

" _The 7 Ghosts are not a force to be trifled with. Even though they protect humankind, they themselves put it at risk."_

" _Because they are the fragments of Verloren?"_

" _No. Because their humanity died with them."_

" _Died...?"_

" _That is to say...they were once normal humans. However, due to the blood that flows within them, once they suffer death, be it natural or circumstantial, they would be revived with the Gods' supernatural powers given, but their humanity taken. So...they are little more than beasts in human form."_

Beasts in human form. .

_It doesn't make sense. How can Frau be an 07-ghost?_

Again the momentary flashbacks came. The first time I'd seen him, he'd banished the Kor chasing me. With not a Bascules, but a scythe. The ideal instrument of the God of Death, Verloren and his fragments.

Or at least it was told in the book, The Angel's Eye. After searching endlessly for weeks in the library, I'd discovered that the book that held all the answers was with me the whole time, the very first book I borrowed.

And the irony just kept growing from there.

It told the story of Verloren and his sin, how he killed the Chief of Heaven's daughter and escaped to Earth in a frenzy to find her soul. How the Chief of Heaven used the same attributes, the same  _fragments_  to form the Seven Ghosts, who sealed Verloren in Pandora's Box.

It also told how the Ghosts took on human forms after the battle and raised families which took the accursed bloodline like Castor said. And how one human was in contact with an 07-Ghost.

And how the Ghost's influence, not by will, the human had died.

Just that one simple sentence made me slam the book heavily on the table, get up and storm out of the room. I couldn't stand being lied to anymore.

However, the piece d'resistance of the unbelievable irony that the temptress of Fate kept handing me was not the fact that the being proclaimed as a Death God was at the Church.

It was, I thought, sighing heavily and leaning over the marble table, so my face touched the unbearably cool surface, the fact that I thought I couldn't be surprised anymore.

Leave it to that bastard to find a chink in my armour.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- x-x-x-x

Hakuren:

"Go outside and study?" I repeated, staring at Ouida. The boy nodded, "Yeah. I was thinking it might be a welcome change from having to study in that dusty library all the time. And the fresh air would help us concentrate."

"That's true."  
"And when was the last time you were in the outside world, Hakuren?"

"Um..."

"Do you remember what the colour of the sky is, at least?" Ouida asked, completely exasperated.

"Of course I do." I said with a completely straight face, "It's purple, with white stripes."

Ouida laughed, then abruptly stopped and looked at me, "...You are kidding right?"

I rolled my eyes, "Come on already." We picked up our books and walked outside.

I was greeted by the weary shine of the watery sunlight and the raindrop-grass carpet, upon which I walked precariously, for fear of getting mud all over the library books. True, I was brave enough to even attempt talking to a Fyulong, but I wasn't about to push my luck with the nun who was in charge of the library today; Sister Libelle.

"Wow, it must've been quite a shower." Ouida observed, as he steadied me yet again, "Quite unusual for this time of year."

"Yes." I agreed absently as I straightened my robes. Trying to get grass off wet Church robes was no joke and the task had my full attention...that is, until Ouida called out, "Oh, Bishop Laborador!"  
I looked up to see a bishop walk towards us, a kind smile on his face, "Greetings, Ouida-kun, Hakuren-kun. Studying outside today?"

"Yes. We thought it would be a change to sit near the fountain. It would enable us to think clearly."

"Indeed it will. Hakuren-kun, what do you know about Zen?"

I raised an eyebrow at the unexpected question, "Zen? Isn't that some sort of marble game? Not much, I'm afraid; I rarely had time to play games as a child."

"What about you, Ouida-kun?"

"I do know a little, but I don't have a set."

"I see. Well, we'll be able to work with two people." As this I noticed that there were figures behind him and looked past him to see none other than Teito Klein, slightly dishevelled with his hair sticking up on one side like he'd fallen asleep on the marble bench, but otherwise fine and a small, vaguely familiar little boy behind him.

"I'd encountered upon these two by chance, where Teito-kun was giving Capella-kun a set of marbles as a gift and I took the liberty of explaining about the various properties of these particlar marbles."

"...But he didn't understand a word of it, did he?" Although I never had time to play games as a child, I admit I had an interest in Zen-m. But to someone who barely had the experience of a newborn in this world, Teito would never understand the logistics of this particular game.

"So, I asked for a demonstration." He pointed to the sacks in each boy's hands, "Would you like to see?"

"Well, I don't know..." Ouida began, but I cut him off, "Yes, we would."

"Wonderful! Well, shall we go to the fountains then?"

"Alright."

I mutely followed the group to Lazette's resting ground, uncomfortably aware that Ouida was staring at me. I sighed. Well, we can't leave Teito be. For all we know, he may even lose to the kid. I could just imagine his face if that ever happens.

With that surprisingly funny mental picture in mind, we finally reached our destination and Ouida and I seated ourselves on the fountain rim.

"Fine then. Please pick out a marble from each sack." Labrador said. I raised an eyebrow. For a mild-mannered man, Labrador-san certainly didn't waste time beating around the bush.

Capella picked his first one out easy enough; a deep burgundy marble. Teito, however, deliberated, chewing his lip. He then settled on a golden marble and took a deep breath facing the bishop.

"Throw the marbles towards each other." Labrador walked towards us until he was at a safe distance from them-Teito's eyes warily watching his retreat-and continued, "Start!"

The two boys flung the marbles away from them. They seemed to freeze in the air before impact, then Capella's marble just touched Teito's before skidding off the slicked surface and heading towards the latter's owner.

"Watch out, Teito-kun!" Ouida called.

Teito steadied himself, holding his hands out to catch the marble. The little glass ball came to a screeching halt, brushing against the boy's fingertips before shooting towards his marble again.

As they neared, they both spun off in a wide arc, spiralling in a wild, almost graceful dance, before colliding with each other in a rush of scarlet and gold sparks. Energy spent, they both landed a few feet away from their owners.

Where the noise had been ear-splitting in the area, the silence was just as deafening.

"What the-?"

"Hmm, that was a very powerful reaction! As I anticipated. One more time should do the trick."

"O-ok." Capella mumbled, glancing down, "but about...nii-san...?"

"I'll be fine, Capella." Teito said, smiling at the kid, "One thing I understood from Labrador-san's speech was that these marbles are controlled by Zaiphon. If yours gets out of control, I can use mine to call it back."

"And it takes a lot of Zaiphon abilities to use these marbles. God has given you a great gift." Labrador said to Capella, smiling openly to calm the little boy's nerves.

Capella gave an embarrassed sort of smile at Teito, which faded soon upon seeing the boy's expression, "Nii-san, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, Capella." Teito responded quickly...too quickly. "Let's continue."

"Choose a different marble this time. And concentrate."

This time, Capella picked a deep black one and Teito, an unusual shade of violet-blue. On Labrador-san's word, they launched their marbles in the air and held their breath.

I knew what was to happen next, but I hadn't actually seen people play Zen at all.

So I wasn't prepared for what I saw.

The residual sparks from the last collision trailed after the marbles like mini-comet trails and forced the marbles to collide again, with a resounding, crystalline  _crack_. With a puff of energy, they trailed in the air, going up and up and up...

"Ready?"

The two boys nodded and raised their arms. The marbles shuddered in the air, before starting in an upward dance, that spiralled further and further towards the sky, colliding with one crack after another. After one particular collision, they shot away from each other and dashed towards the earth, emitting reddish-black and purple-gold sparks through the sky.

A musical laugh made me look around and I saw the mermaid known as Lazette behind me, clapping her hands at the striking sight.

Ouida seemed to agree with her, "I'll say. I haven't seen a good game of Zen in quite a while."

The marbles, on contact with the ground, skidded over the stone structure forming light-ray patterns over it, tracing out the borders of Zaiphon words. With each collision, they formed a different word.

_Life. Earnest. Timeless. Self. Fresh._

With each word added to the chain of the last letter, the Zaiphon was etched deeper and deeper into rock in a circle-like border around them, like an ancient sorcerer's magic circle, when they call upon their blood,

With a start, I realized that was what I was seeing.

Capella's body was lifted slightly into the air pulsing with a light-blue aura, causing the awe-struck kid to laugh in pure joy. His wavering hands barely controlled the Zaiphon through them, but anyone could see he had talent.

His Zaiphon was no match for Teito's though. The boy was surrounded in an indeterminable aura, constantly flitting over his body, shifting, changing colour, from red to blue to purple to white. While Capella was surrounded merely by the Zaiphon aura, Teito had an additional Zaiphon ring rotating near his body, trying to make sense of his newly-recognized force. It traced out a single word repeated over and over, that even in the light of the sun, I could see.

_Pain._

And all of a sudden the moment was over.

The energy crackled and fizzed out of existence, leaving two slightly charred marbles lying innocently on stone. Capella dropped to the ground, heaving a huge sigh.

"Awww...I wanted to win."

"Sorry, Capella. I take every competition seriously." Teito said, sheepishly, ruffling the kid's hair. "Tell you what. How about you practice more with me? Who knows; next time you may beat me."

"There's going to be a next time?" I asked, raised an eyebrow at the Zaiphon words on the stone. Lazette was even leaning over the fountain and tracing one with her fingertips;  _Ladder._

"I think that maybe we should wait a while before the next time." Ouida said, "I don't think the higher-ups would appreciate the Zaiphon decorations all over the Church."

Teito took one look at the words below his feet and started. "...I think you're right."

"You must be exhausted. Dinner-time will be in a few hours, so you should go rest before then. Zen can take a lot out of you." Labrador said. Capella nodded and Teito said, "Alright."

Without further ado, the bishop left the scene. Instead of going to the entryway right away, though, Teito moved towards us, "Sorry you got dragged out here because of us. I mean...Labrador can be surprisingly persuasive..."

" _Idiot._ "

Ouida and Teito both did a double take. "What...?" The younger one said uncertainly.

"Do you think I'd honestly waste my time watching  _anybody's_ game when I could learn 50 verses of the bible instead?"

"F-fifty...Hakuren, that's a stretch. Even for you." Ouida commented.

"And anyway, I wanted to be there for moral support. In case you lost to the kid." At this, Teito predictably bristled. " _Hakuren..._ " Capella looked at me and then at him and back again, a panicked look on his face.

"Lighten up, already. I'm just teasing you."

"Hmmph."

"And you should go and eat something now. Unless you want to faint in front of the entire Church again."

"I eat plenty enough! And I haven't fainted in weeks!" Right on cue, a growl emanated somewhere in his vicinity and he turned as red as Capella's sack. "What timing." I noted, grinning at him. I was winding him up...just a bit. But it was almost like he was asking for it.

"S-shut up!"

He  _was_ asking for it...

"Don't you have some studying to do anyways?"

"Yes, I do. I mean it, I have to study fifty verses today."

Teito looked like he was going to say more, but he shut his mouth and shook his head. "See you." He walked up to the fountain, patted Lazette on the head and walked back to the castle.

I was uncomfortably aware of Ouida staring at me. "What?" I demanded.

"Nothing." Ouida replied with an irritatingly knowing smile on his face, "I just think that was a good thing you did there."

"How so?"

"You know very well why Zen is banned in the Districts. Playing Zen consumes one's natural Zaiphon power and the marbles cannot always be controlled. It shows how powerful one is when they are able to control their marble perfectly."

"And that's relevant how?"

"There's also one thing. Whenever someone plays Zen, their innermost feelings are revealed in the word game." Ouida looked pointedly at me, "Most of the time, it's considered a bad thing, but when someone you know has a bad past and is hiding it from you to maintain your friendship, and all you can do is force them out...well."

"It's not like I actually did anything."

"I haven't known you for long, Hakuren. But I'm your partner and I know you well enough to tell that you care about Teito-kun."

"..."

"It's because you see yourself in him, right?"

"...We're wasting time here, Ouida. Let's start already."

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Teito:

_Achoo!_

"Now that was weird. Am I coming down with a cold?"

_Though anyone would, after spending five hours in the rain._

I shrugged and continued strumming on my guitar, thankful to find it still worked after being exposed to rain. I leaned against the cold glass of the windowed wall, closing my eyes and losing myself in the tune.

_**I wake up in the morning** _

_**One day** _

_**Can't explain why I feel this way...** _

A bright glare interrupted me and I opened my eyes to see the setting sun, setting scarlet-gold streaks against the horizon.

"It's already this late." I noted, looking at the people scurrying towards the Church gates.

_He hasn't been here for the whole day._

Right on cue, the dull pounding on my head intensified. Groaning, I clutched my head and breathed in deeply, telling myself to relax, that the pain would pass over in a moment.

This had occurred frequently ever since the village incident days ago. Something about those...people, that encounter had seemed so familiar and every time I tried to remember, my mind shied away from the pain that emanated.

I leaned my forehead against the glass as a makeshift pain-reliever and stared down at the gardens below. The nuns were hurrying back to the Church hallways, while a few acolytes and Bishops stayed outside. Hakuren and Ouida seemed to have gone in though.

The gates had completely closed by now, and I knew that dinner-time would be in half an hour. I made a mental note to hurry outside fifteen minutes before, to prevent the Sisters from closing in on me again.

Of all the Church orphans, why they felt that I was the most important to take care of, I had no idea.

...Of course, it could have something to do with all the trouble I stirred up in the Church.

I had to get out of here to protect the people...but I couldn't do that, until I'd gained enough information on the dark forces that plagued the world outside the safety of the Church. My research wasn't yielding any results yet.

Not only that, I had the vague feeling I was missing something. What I'd learnt so far were small snippets of Kor and Wars, but each book contradicted another except for the basic warding techniques. There was something important that I'd overlooked, something in their basic origin that tied everything together...

I blinked and refocused on the scene below me. At first, I didn't recognize what I was seeing until the glare of the sun shifted a little. My hands, flattened against the window, curled into fists.

There were  _supposed_ to be only Bishops and acolytes on the grounds, long after the gates had closed. But there was one standing in the garden which was not decked in white robes, but in deep blue, staring back at me.

Pain forgotten, I tore myself away from the window and rushed out the door, the tail end of the guitar brushing slightly against the stone. I threw it over my shoulder and tightened the strap, breaking into a full-fledged run.

I ran past one, two, three hallways, cursing for the thousandth time the length of the halls when I skidded to a halt at the open hallway.

Gone.

 _What is he, some kind of ghost?_ I thought. After registering those words, I had to choke down a hysterical laugh. It was all too much; if I hadn't lost my sanity in the crash, I was losing it now.

I leaned against the pillar and looked at the garden, feeling the heat leave my cheeks, staring blankly ahead. As I recovered my breath, an echoing noise replaced the blood pounding in my ears. I paused and listened to the echo.

Two voices were talking, not far from here. One was agitated and strong, the other cool and composed. Just listening to the latter made my skin crawl. My feet lurched forward, step for step. By the time I'd realised, I was hidden behind a wide marble column.

_Hakuren._

"What I'm trying to say here, father," Hakuren argued, clearly on edge, "is that since I left the house I'm entitled to my own decisions. And I've decided to become a Bishop."

"What use would you have in becoming a clergy-man, Hakuren?" The other man, his father, replied. His tone was even, but at this close distance I could hear an undercurrent of anger, "Especially with your potential and talent. What you pursue right now is a hopeless dream, a fad if you will."

"A fad I've pursued since I was 8 years old." Hakuren interjected.

"Yes. I'm afraid your rebellious streak began around that time."

"My rebellious streak began the time you isolated your only family in favour of politics and secrecy, father." Now Hakuren had become calm, "You'd grown so used to keeping secrets that you pushed away your only loved ones to spare family dignity. We would have accepted you without any prejudice, loved you unconditionally. Instead, you turned your only son against you."

"A fine reason to join the forces of light and forgiveness. Revenge. I wonder how they would accept you if they learnt of your  _other_ secrets."

I couldn't take it anymore. I stepped out from behind the pillar and said, "Hakuren, there you are. Ouida's been looking for you." The boy turned around and faced me with disbelieving eyes, remnants of pure hatred pouring from them.

"Teito..."

"Oh, Hakuren. You've never told me of your little Church friend here." Hakuren's father said in such a condescending tone, my patience immediately snapped.

"What Hakuren does in here is none of your business. Once he enters the Church, he is a free individual who can abide by his own wishes, and if he wants to become a clergyman, he can damn well become one." I spat at him.

Hakuren gaped at me. Even his father appeared shocked. I continued, "Whenever I see Hakuren, he's there poring over a Bible, or memorizing verses of some kind. And he helps people and takes nothing, and always, always helps me. He's helped me in so many ways you can't imagine! You may have an issue with him, but everyone in here accepts him for who he is. He's my friend and he'll stay that way!"

I looked at Hakuren and was surprised to see a flush appear on his cheeks. I turned to the father again, still seething.

"...Hakuren." The man said in a cold voice, "You are lucky to have someone like him, because expect the support of your family to be cut this very moment."

"Like he had any to begin with!"

The man was about to say something more, when we heard a curious sputtering noise behind him. We both looked to see a teenage boy standing there, who bore an uncanny resemblance to Hakuren, except his blond hair was in a crew-cut and he was wearing some kind of uniform. He looked directly at me, and was shaking so badly, he looked like he was about to fall over any minute now.

"Shuri...?" The man said uncertainly. Shuri seemed to have found his voice and said to me, " _You._ "

I blinked at him, "What?"

"You did it...you did it!"

"What did I do?" I asked, feeling more and more confused by the second.

Then Shuri took a deep breath and shouted. I was across the hall, but I heard it clear as day.

" _You stole the Eye of Raphael!"_

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 


	13. Sought

Ante Mortem

Chapter 12: Sought

Hakuren:

It was too quiet.

In all the years I've spent within the white walls of the Church, I was exposed to things that my sheltered life as a politician's son would never allow me to see, hear, touch and believe. The verses of the Bible, the holy light of the zaiphon filtered through a Bascules, the cold, dying breath of a soul possessed by a Kor, the reflection of people's hearts: unholy darkness in most and the rare ray of light in few. I've seen things, I've lived through things that the Church has, the people it shelters.

But among the things that I've learned as an acolyte of the Barsburg Church, there was one thing I've associated with the life of a student confined behind the holy white marble walls.

At the heart of the Church, endless sermons were played, from the crack of dawn till the last rays of the dying sun spread over the horizon. And adding to the soft singing of the nuns and the deep, soul-stirring cries of the organ, there mixed the happy chatter of the acolytes, the chattering of the townspeople who inch through the huge gates to glance at the impressive architecture of the House of God, the bubbling of the fountain through the cerulean streams that carve their paths through the heart of the gardens, creating an impressive fountain where the Noel mermaid resided. Now and then, she added her own contribution by singing sweetly to a tune that only she knew.

The Church's Music was never silenced, was never stilled and had never, ever given way to such a deafening quiet such as the one surrounding us now.

I was not a believer of omens, but somehow I could not bring myself to dismiss the foreboding that trailed after the mocking quiet.

It wasn't like it was unwarranted either.

Minutes after his declaration, Shuri still stood in the same position: one arm raised, finger pointed towards a bewildered Teito, chest puffed out, feet spread wide, face reddened with anger.

He looked far from threatening. On the contrary, he looked ridiculous, like one of those puppets from the theatre shows that the orphans usually watch. Or to be more specific, the one that usually taunts the hero of the story, while lying back with gold coins at his feet and the world at his fingertips.

It took me a few minutes to realize that the puppet was still talking.

"You did it, you did it, I  _know_ you did it!" Shuri kept hissing furiously, finally bringing down his raised arm, fisting both his hands. Teito blinked before he finally managed to say, "...I think you must be mistaken. I haven't seen you anywhere before. We're meeting here for the first time so..."

"Liar! I know it was you! You stole the national treasure of the Barsburg kingdom, you infiltrated the castle in District One! You were one of the spies who attacked the Princess!"

If Teito had been confused before, he was now in way over his head. "Treasure? Princess? Look, I keep telling you, I'm not the one who did those things. I'd been at the Church for a long time now..."

" _I saw you!_ " Shuri screamed, and his shouts drowned out the protests of the brown-haired boy, "I saw you that night! Two months ago, you infiltrated the castle...you saw me in the hallway on your way to the treasury...you saw me, you laughed at me, you took the jewel from me and you hit me on the head! An illusion, an image from my mind cannot knock me unconscious! I told you he was real, Father! I  _told_  you!"

"What in the name of the Gods are you saying, Shuri?" I barked out, having found my voice at last, "Do you even have any idea of what you are implicating Teito of? The jewel had been found several weeks ago, so why are you still going on about it?"

"Who told you that?" Shuri asked, the anger flooding away to reveal a beyond-comical look of shock on his face.

I sighed impatiently, feeling shards of the old anger return, "Shuri. Just because I have committed myself to a life of the Church does not mean I cannot still keep tabs on the going-ons of the District. I have given myself to a life on spiritual enlightenment and just cause, not exile. And for the record, can you please remember that we are in a Church before you start shooting your mouth off?"

Shuri sputtered, as the red in his face slowly gave way to purple. "I don't need your permission to talk inside these walls, Hakuren! This is a Church! We are free to do as we please here!"

"No." My voice quietened, "Understand that there is freedom only for those who deserve it. I don't think you would understand, Shuri."

Shuri flinched back as he saw the look on my face, and Teito glanced at me warily, emerald eyes guarded. I sighed, took a deep breath and said, "I am sorry. If it's fine with you, I will take my leave."

"I should've expected this from you, taking a sklave's side!" Shuri finally burst out.

Teito blinked. "...Sk...sklave?" He pronounced slowly, uncertainly.

"You were always the black sheep of the family, after all." Shuri concluded, glaring at me, "You were allowed to run wild. I told General Oak that you would cause nothing but trouble, that your antics would bring shame to the Oak family. But never,  _never_ in my wildest dreams did I expect that you would bring the downfall of our family. Because of  _him,_ because of  _you_ , the entire District-no the entire  _kingdom_  will be ruined!"

"Shuri, that is enough!" The man who I loathed to call my father said sharply, but Shuri continued without any heed.

"Because of you, the Eye of Raphael is completely powerless!"

I gaped. "What-?"

"Shuri, that is a confidential subject! Say no more, your words will throw us head-first into the gallows!" Father roared at him.

Shuri continued on, "The jewel had been found several weeks ago, true, but it was unresponsive to any of our tests. We cannot detect Raphael's presence in there, the princess cannot hear him, and the jewel is just another breakable little trinket now!"

" _Of course, the Eye will not respond. I highly doubt that Raphael would listen to you, in the first place."_

Shuri blinked, as Teito spoke up behind me. As one, we all turned to where Teito was standing.

He was...still Teito. That same brown-haired boy who showed up out of nowhere, with no name, no memories and no clue as to where he came from, who he was, who he had been.

The same voice, the same face.

_It is not him._

_That boy is not Teito._

" _Raphael is a powerful angel. No,"_ The boy smiled. A thing of beautiful innocence.

Marred only by the spite in his eyes.

" _Raphael is an angel of angels. An archangel. And an archangel does not usually bend to the whims of mortals. He listens only to the family that commands your will."_

"The family...are you talking about...the Royal family?" General Oak asked.

" _Yes, I am. The jewel that you say is powerless may actually be a state of self-induced sleep."_ The boy glanced at Shuri,  _"During the time the Eye of Raphael had been reported missing, it may have come across a strong power source. Something that...may have been introduced to it, that may have tried to probe the Eye."_

"Raphael was attacked?" I asked.

" _With the intention of using Raphael's power against the ones who listen to him. But instead...of fighting back, he chose to withdraw into himself."_ Teito mused,  _"I wonder why? He could have easily killed his abductors."_

"The Eye cannot be activated until he is within his host's body." Shuri said, suspicious glint back in his eye. I looked back towards him and Father and saw their guarded expression.

Guarded. Not wary.

They didn't see Teito as a threat.

They wanted to know what he knew. They were desperate; that much was obvious. They wanted to know what he knew. It may as well be the only thing standing between the Oak Family and eternal disgrace.

But they didn't see what I saw.

They didn't see...

_They cannot._

_Be wary._

Why? He's my friend.

_Not the boy who stands before you now._

" _Not truly. Archangels can be activated to a certain degree outside the host's body, but the power costs them their physical forms. The orbs that contain their powers."_ He added, when he saw Shuri's confused look, " _And if they expend too much power, their shells will crack through completely. And when that happens...it would mean catastrophe for every living being that inhabits these lands."_ **[1]**

"So the Eye is-?"

" _Unharmed. Well, it still remains to be seen whether this story is true or not."_

"It has to be true." Shuri glared defiantly at Teito, " _You_ were the one that stole the Eye!"

" _How presumptuous."_ Something flashed across Teito's eyes, and the uneasy feeling in me increased in intensity, " _You claim things that you have neither evidence nor witness. General, if you want your son to enter the army, then at least remove that delinquent attitude of his."_

Father sputtered inaudibly and Teito blinked, reverting to the angelic demeanour he had emanated earlier.

" _Oh? Did I say something wrong? Or has that infantile scorn simply escaped your notice, Oak?"_

"You give us so much explanation, so much evidence and you still want us to believe that you are not the guilty one?" Shuri barked out.

Teito's smile turned slightly mocking, " _As you yourself have confirmed mere seconds ago, we are in a Church. I wear the symbol of the cross on my arm which indicates, to those of the meanest intelligence,"_ He glanced again at Shuri, who seethed with anger at the boy's less-than-subtle insult,  _"that I belong here. And once people stay in a Church, they are given access to the reading material of the Church library, regardless of whether they write the exam or not. My information is nothing more than what we obtain everyday from books. Isn't that right, Hakuren?"_

_No. No._

_This is the first time I've even heard of such facts related to the Eye of Raphael. Even with the expansive information the Church provides, there is very little information about the powers of the Eyes or the Archangels themselves._

_But. I cannot lie._

The boy in front of me was not Teito. He was a stranger.

That cool, calm look in his eyes, that confident, strong stance, the relaxation of his arms that dangle loosely to the sides. This Teito was confident in himself, the exact opposite of the scared, wary and confused boy he had been mere moments before.

It was almost like he had been taken over...like he switched personalities.

 _Dual personality?_ The realization hit me hard, like iron to the skull of man.

_Could that accident in the desert have triggered something more than amnesia? Clearly, he doesn't show the normal symptoms of memory loss, but is it even possible to attain dual personality as a result? That seems to be incredibly far-fetched..._

And yet. The Teito in front of me seemed to be far more complex than simply an alter-ego.

As if he knew what I was thinking, the not-Teito personality looked me straight in the eyes and smiled, before directing his gaze downwards to his hand. I followed his gaze and saw angry red sparks of zaiphon set off menacingly in his hand.

"Yes. Of course." I said, facing Father and Shuri again, "They make this quite an important topic in the Examinations, as the two Eyes deal with the fate of Verloren himself."

Shuri had no response. Evidently, he believed that I would have replied to the opposite effect, in-spite of the accusations he made of my conspiracy with a sklave. He glared for a longer time, searching for something, _anything_ that would implicate us both.

"I will not stand around and listen to these insults. Least of all from a child." Father spat.

Not-Teito's eyes twitched. Just a bit.

" _Then I suggest you leave us be. I do not wish to continue this conversation any more than you do."_

"Hey! I'm not done with you!" Shuri said.

" _But I am."_ The Zaiphon gathering in Teito's hand dissipated softly. The red dust scattered in the air, unseen by Father and Shuri, but the stinging pain it caused was very much felt by everyone in the vicinity. Including me.

Shuri stumbled backwards, cringing as the mist attacked his hands, his wrist, his face...Father made an effort to wipe the zaiphon particles away and glared at Teito.

"You insolent brat! You cannot go attacking people at random!"

" _But I did not do anything."_ The not-Teito did not bother hiding his contempt behind an innocent grin this time. Already, the pain on my exposed skin was receding, leaving not even a mark on the surface.

"What-?" Shuri gasped, staring at his own hands.

" _I believe you may be suffering from allergies. The gardener of this Church has been tending to flowers whose pollen's effects are of the more...hostile kind. And if not tended to, the effects start to **worsen**."_

"What the hell? This is-!"

"Shuri, we are leaving." Father cut the young cadet off. He was looking at Teito with barely-disguised fear in his eyes.

"But-"

" _Now,_  Shuri. Else Claire will get worried."

Without a single word to me, Father turned his backs on us and left the room. Shuri, on the other hand, did have some parting words.

"This isn't the end of it, Hakuren!" So saying, he dashed off.

" _I hardly believe it to be so."_ Not-Teito commented, gaze fixed on the pair's retreating backs,  _"He does not strike me as the type of person who easily gives up. And when it comes to reading people's hearts, I have never been wrong yet."_

"Who are you?" I asked. Not-Teito raised an eyebrow, before chuckling, " _I thought it was but a mere illusion. However...you_ can  _see me. Most intriguing. But do you know what forces you are trifling with, boy?"_

"If I'm not mistaken, and I rarely am..." I said, with a confidence I did not feel, "something that could kill me without a hesitant thought."

" _Very true. You show no fear even as you speak this truth, child."_

"I do not believe that I could die. Not by Teito's hands, at any rate."

" _What certainty."_ Not-Teito's expression did not change, but he seemed to be genuinely surprised. If he was, he hid it well,  _"But why do you entrust your safety to Teito?"_

"Teito," I said dryly, "cannot stand to hold a Bascules properly unless it was to save others' lives. I can hardly imagine him using his zaiphon to kill me."

" _Ah, but that is the truth of it. You imagine. You do not know. Tell me, Hakuren, what do you know of Teito before he entered the Church?"  
_

"I know! I do know! I..." My voice faded, as the next part of his sentence registered.

I know Teito's strong will, his comical, full-of-life expressions, the zaiphon power that he wielded and his hesitation to use it, the daredevil attitude he possessed when it came to protecting other people and the shy, swan-like attitude when it came to covering himself.

But do I know the place of his birth? Do I know where he was born and raised? The names of his friends? His favourite books? The names of his pets?

Did I know what he did before he entered the Church?

The place where he attended school? Do I even know if he even  _went_ to school?

 _"How could you possibly know that if he does not even know it himself?"_ Not-Teito asked, as if reading my mind.

"...Is that even relevant?"

_"You just entrusted your life to someone you barely know. Of course it is relevant. I could easily be possessing the body of a thief, an immoral sinner...a serial killer. You know nothing of how Teito was when before he entered the gates of this Church. How are you so sure that he is the boy you see before?"  
_

"No. But I know the boy he is now." I replied. The words came out sounding hollow.

" _He could be lying to you."_

"Teito?" I scoffed. But the certainty was slowly starting to fade from my voice, "Teito is the worst liar I have ever seen."

" _That may be an act too and you know it, son of Oak."_

"Stop it!" I shouted, clapping my hands over my ears. Not-Teito was unfazed by the sudden exclamation, but he did stop talking,

"I do know that Teito may not be what he says he is. And the whole amnesia thing...he could easily be lying to me about that, too. But even though I've known him for less than a year, even though he barely knows me..."

" _He trusts you. Does he not?"_

"For the first time in my life, someone trusted me. No-one of my family ever did...they were afraid my bad blood would lead me to do something they...or I...would regret. But I broke away. I came to the Church because...I felt like I could escape the lies if I entered a place of truth. Stupid, I know," I continued, a wry grin on my face, "but...it was the only option I had. I was not suited for anything else. I was groomed to be a politician's son. First and foremost. I had no experience in the real world, so I thought...that I could join a Church. Make a fresh start; the Bishops at the Church taught me everything I needed to know to become a Bishop."

"And when I met him...well." I chuckled at our encounter, "I would not say we got off on the right foot. If anything, we wanted to hate each other as much as mortally possible. But somewhere along the line...that idiot started to trust me." I looked back defiantly back at him, "It may be an act...and he may be deluding me for all I know. But, that...that is the first time that anyone,  _anyone_ has trusted me. And if he is lying to me, then...what's wrong with acting along with him? For a little while longer?" Because, even if I have fallen straight into the puppeteer's fingertips and am being manipulated by the boy I think I know, then it won't make a difference to me. I've been manipulated for far too long for me to even care about my rights and my soul anymore.

And for some strange reason, the thought that Teito may be the one manipulating me did not give me any cause for concern. No, I could stand being lied to; I have been my entire life. But it was different with him somehow.

Not-Teito chuckled softly, and I was surprised to see it was natural, not hiding any contempt of any sort.  _"It goes without saying. Both ways too. Ah, if he could see us now..."_

"He?" I probed, "Who's 'he'?"

_"None of your business. Son of Oak, I will spare your life for the time being. But you must dictate your actions accordingly. Let me not think that you are another one who uses pretty words, then cowers from ugly actions."_

"I don't run away." I said, feeling my fingers fold back into a fist.

 _"Yes, I expect nothing less than that."_ Not-Teito said somewhat impatiently,  _"What I'm asking you to do is keep your promise."_

I blinked, "My promise? What..."

 _"You shall know. Soon enough."_ He peered at me,  _"Speak not of me to Teito."_

"He doesn't know about you?"

 _"No. And I intend to keep it that way."_ I blinked. There was something...off about him now...

"Are you leaving?" Sure enough, the not-Teito's aura seemed to be dwindling...trickling away.

_"Yes. But...sadly, it is not the last time you shall ever see me."_

"...Alright." I nodded, then held out my hand, "It was an...experience meeting you."

 _"Do be quiet, boy. It was hell and you know it."_ I had to grin at that, "I know. Just trying to ease the tension."

 _"Just do not turn into that insufferable cousin of yours."_ He closed his eyes and I felt my grin fade as his essence faded away completely. The eyes that opened were completely human.

 _Human?_ I stopped cold. Does that mean...does that mean that Teito had been possessed by something not human? Something...more?

"...Hakuren?" Teito blinked, then started, an embarrassed blush on his face, "S-sorry! I didn't mean to space out on you...um, what were you saying before?" I looked back at the perfectly normal 13-something **[2]** boy before me, before I reached out and gripped his hair.

"Oi...you have some nerve spacing out on me when I'm yelling at you." I said, in an irritable manner. Teito squawked and tried to move, wincing when my fingers refused to yield. "What's up with you?" I chuckled in a hollow manner, "That's what I should be asking you. Well, now that the question is conveniently out before us, shall we go about answering it then?"

"What do you mean?" He barked at me, the embarrassment giving way to anger.  _The reaction...was delayed._ I observed. Normally, Teito was a quick fuse. Come to think of it, there was something off with his movements even before Not-Teito possessed him...

"Why didn't you say anything earlier?" I demanded. Teito put his own hands in his hair and prised my fingers off, one by one, still glaring at me as I continued, "Back then when my idiot cousin was practically accusing you of theft and attempted murder, why didn't you protest? You and I both know you didn't steal the Eye of Raphael, no matter what he says..."

"Hakuren."

"What?"

"Hakuren...it may be true." I blinked. Teito's anger had faded and now he was looking at me with a dead serious expression on his face.

"What do you mean?"

"Shuri said the attack took place two months ago. Hakuren, I didn't come to the Church because I sought shelter, I came to the Church because I had no choice. The Bishops found me..."

"...stranded in the desert in a bike accident." Teito looked up, eyes wide. I had momentarily forgotten that only not-Teito had known that I was aware of Teito's condition. Ah well. "Two months ago. That had left you with short-term amnesia and as far as you know, you may have been making a desperate last-minute escape from the palace guards" I shook my head, "Teito, that would be a plausible theory, save for the fact that when you were found, you didn't have the Eye with you. The only thing the Bishops could find is the guitar that's on your shoulder. Also, even if you were faking your amnesia, how could you escape Bishops Labrador and Castor's notice? And what would you stand to gain for staying in the Church for so long?"

Teito just stared at me. I continued, "Shuri is hardly more than a deluded good-for-nothing who only managed to get in the army because of Father's connections. Don't heed his words."

"...You have a strange family." Teito finally said, with a small, wry smile. I raised an eyebrow and just about managed to stop smiling back at him, "Says the boy who talks to dragons and mermaids." Teito scratched his head sheepishly and said, "...Sorry about that."

"What?"

"Fighting with them. I didn't mean to make things worse than they already were."

"Well, you didn't. They're always like that."

"...I can see why you ran away. I was listening in, earlier." He admitted apologetically, when I stared at him.

I sighed and stretched, "We should be going back now. Dinner-time is almost over and I'm starving."

"Um, Hakuren. I'm not exactly hungry, so...I think I'll skip it."

"What?" I blinked, "Teito, you skipped lunch too, right?"

Teito fidgeted a little, "Well, yeah. But...I'm not exactly hungry so..."

"Stupid idiot!" I knocked him on the head.

"Will you cut that out?" Teito yelled, rubbing his sore head, "As it is, my head hurts like I just drove razor-sharp rusty nails into it!"

"You have horribly graphic analogies." I shuddered. Then the first part of his sentence registered and I continued, "An aching head...you just remembered something else didn't you? Another memory?"

"Was it...a bad one?"

If I wasn't so close to Teito, I would have missed the flighty emotion which touched his face and left like a hand scalded by hot water. Just for a moment, I saw how he really felt, beyond that normal exterior, and for a minute, my heart twisted uncomfortably.

"Not really." And the lie was much better than I expected it to be.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Frau:

"It's bedtime, kiddo."

"I'm not sleepy." The red-haired brat said unnecessarily, as he continued hopping on his mattress like he hadn't even heard me. My fingers twitched for a minute before I continued, "Well, tough damn luck kid. You have to sleep right now. Or at least, pretend to, right Alphonse?"

The ebony-haired kid to the side rolled over, still snoring.

"How do you know if he's asleep, or not?" A little blonde girl asked me.

"Duh, you ask him, genius." Red said.

"That's impossible! You can't ask a person whether they're asleep or awake!" The girl replied indignantly, "They have to be awake to listen in the first place, stupid! That's the only question you can never answer 'yes' to!"

"That," I commented, "And the question of whether or not I was present when there existed a mysterious wind that mysteriously floated about the ground and inexplicably did little more than blow more than a little hard at the Sisters' robes only."

"What?" Red asked absentmindedly.

"Nothing." Blondie said, glaring at me mutinously.

 _I wonder what they're teaching the orphans these days..._ I thought, eyes narrowing at her reaction-or lack thereof.

At this point, Alphonse gave up pretending to be asleep and sat up on the bed, staring at us in irritation, "Would it kill you to try sleeping now?"

"Yep. I've got energy to burn." Red said, "And you know what happens when you have too much energy."

"What does happen?" Blondie asked, curious.

Red stopped jumping on the bed and puffed his chest out, leering towards her. "The Bishops say that if you have too much energy, it turns into zaiphon and pumps through your blood." He said, in what was I think meant to be a spooky-sounding voice and ended up coming out all strangled.

Blondie wasn't fooled neither. "Normal people don't have zaiphon, brainless."

"Actually, they do. Right, Bishop Frau?" Alphonse asked me. "Yeah, it's true."

"So it turns into zaiphon. Big deal." Blondie shrugged.

"Actually, it is a big deal." Red grinned toothily, which was supposed to be scary but made him look even more like a kid, "When your energy turns into zaiphon, it pumps through your blood all the way into your heart...where it burns so badly, it will be like your heart caught fire."

"Heart caught fire?" Alphonse asked, "Ehh? I've never heard of such a thing."

"And when your heart "catches fire"", Red continued, making quote marks with his fingers, "Everything you do would change. Slowly, at first and then rapidly. You can't stop it, your actions would cause harm to those around you, you start thinking thoughts that could harm others and finally..."

"Wha..." Blondie's voice shook a little, before she cleared her throat, "What?"

"It gradually poisons your soul...and turns you into an empty shell, that walks on the face of the Earth, grinning as it sucks the souls of other humans." Red concluded, looking perfectly solemn. Silence filled the room at this point, and he continued, "Well, that would happen, if it were true but..."  
"You  _dweeb_!" Blondie wacked him on the head, "When I'm done with you, you're going to wish you were an empty shell!"

"What's the matter, Blondie? Scared?" He grinned.

"I told you before, my name is Mayonaka!" She growled, "And I wasn't scared! I was just-!"

"Alright, that's enough." I interruped, dragging them apart by the collar. I turned to Red, "You just said yourself it wasn't true, so quit acting like a brat and fall asleep already." I turned to the girl who was still glaring at him, "Mayonaka, get to sleep. Sister Athena wants to see you first thing in the morning and the one thing she hates is little punks falling asleep and drooling on her desk when she's lecturing them. And Alphonse..." I turned to the ebony-haired boy, who had already crawled into bed and fallen asleep, "...just be Alphonse, I guess. There. I'm done." I started marching out of the room, when Mayonaka stopped me.

"Bishop Frau?"

"Hmm?"

"...It's not possible...right?" She whispered, mint-green eyes glimmering with a hint of tears. She gestured to Red, who was rubbing his eyes and yawning, despite his initial protests. I looked back at him as well, "Like I said. It's not possible, it's just a trail of yarn that Akai **[3]** here made up."

She giggled, "Akai?" She looked back at him, "It suits him."

I raised an eyebrow at that. "Whoa, kiddo. I can understand the anxious beating of a young one's heart, but can you try to restrain those urges until he elopes with you? I'm not exactly the role-model of all things holy and pious, but come on..."  
She blushed furiously and wacked  _me_ on the head, "Bishop Frau, you pervert!"

"And here I was thinking that I could go one day without someone calling me that." I muttered, rubbing the sore spot.

"Maybe because you deserve it." She pouted, looking off to the side, "...Thanks."

"Anytime."

I closed the door softly behind me and leaned heavily on it. Shit, these runts really wear a guy out.  _Are they adding more sugar to the hydrangea jelly again?_

"What are you doing there, Frau?"

"What does it look like, Four-Eyes?" I replied. I didn't have to open my eyes to see it was Castor; his presence roamed through my mind, calculated and prickly, even as I was talking to the Church orphans.

"Loitering."

"That was a rhetorical question."

"I'm surprised you even know what 'rhetorical' means." Castor sighed, as he leaned on the wall next to the blond man. I did look at him then, "...What's wrong with you?"

"You would know if you actually paid attention to the things flying around your head." Castor muttered, in a voice whose volume said I wasn't supposed to hear him.

"What?"

"Nothing. I thought you were going for...one of those runs of yours."

"Well, the little bastard's not rearing up for some reason today." I rubbed my arm absentmindedly, "Come to think of it, it's been a long time since I actually went on a run. I haven't been on one since..." I mentally counted the days in my head, then stopped. I backtracked.

"You haven't been on one since two months, have you?" Castor asked, looking at me shrewdly. When I narrowed my eyes at him, he continued, "Frau, it's only natural that I keep an eye on you to make sure you or that 'little bastard' don't go overboard. You don't seem to realize this," His eyes grew cold beyond the glass that framed them, "but these are human lives that you're taking."

"But the creatures that I suck those 'lives' from," My tone matched his, as I stared him down, "are hardly human."

"That doesn't give you the right to steal their souls, Frau!" He shouted at me, abandoning all sense of composure.

"So I just leave them on the streets to slowly kill off those people who don't deserve to die?"

"Who made you judge, jury and executioner?"

"I didn't ask for this!" I growled.

"No, you did not. And Castor knows that, Frau."

"Then, you mind explaining to me why he keeps goddamn-"

"Language, Frau." Labrador interrupted, as he walked up to us. "Has it occurred to you that Frau may have no sense of self-restraint whatsoever?" Castor asked him. Labrador looked like he wasn't troubled at all, and none of that was reflected in his answer. "No. I believe that Frau can control himself."

Somehow, though. I could just tell.

And from the look on Lab's face, I could tell he knew that all wasn't exactly sunshine and daisies in my department either. Or at least, I think he knew...

"I can hear what you're thinking, you know." Castor said, in that stuffy, all-hail-the-nerdy-glasses-geek voice. I eyed him, "It doesn't work that way."

"But you're not exactly discreet."

"Castor." Labrador sighed, "That's enough. Right now, can we all come to the conclusion that Frau needs to be a bit more wary than usual? This abstinence is quite worrying, but it's good in the long run. The people of the town are starting to suspect the Church's involvement."

"Wait." I frowned, "How can they possibly-?"

"You forget that, apart from the orphans, we harbour much more sinister individuals."

"I can't forget that. And you know it, Lab." I smiled grimly, "But I'm asking...why when the Church has done so much for them..?"

"The people doubt. It is natural. Also, the Church possesses powers that rival even the ruling family. That kind of power causes more than a little discord." Labrador absentmindedly stroked the leaf of the crimson-red flower he was holding. "That's true." Castor agreed, "Which is why we need to be more vigilant than ever."

"I got it." I said finally, rubbing my head again, "I'll be taking over tonight's shift then. I'll have to start with the southern block first..."

Just as I was about to step away from the wall, Castor stepped in front of me. "One last thing, Frau." He said. His expression was entirely unreadable, but his words were thoroughly unsettling, "How's Teito-kun doing?"

"Brat? He's doing...meh, pretty well I guess. For someone who fainted on the street like a  _girl_." I snorted. Castor nodded, "I thought as much. I checked up on him earlier, and apart from the slight disorientation, he seems to be well. I trust that you have been keeping close watch on him?"

"I have been."  _I'm not exactly lying there._

"...I see. But, remember your limits Frau. There are things we have to hide as well."

"Like I don't know that already, Glasses."

"I'm serious, Frau. Teito may have had close encounters of the other kind," Castor said, eyes cold and serious, "However, I don't wish to add to that."

"Yeah, yeah. I get it already. What a pain." I grumbled, rubbing my bandaged arm. Without another word, I pushed myself off the wall and Castor stepped to the side, letting me through. I walked towards the shadows those holy marble pillars cast against the cold moonlight and the minute I was drenched in dark, I called up my own.

The shadows all around me fluttered restlessly as my being started poisoning itself from the inside-out, weakening my body and zapping it clean of energy until I started to feel the frigid cold of my skin that I could normally ignore.

Then again, this cold was good. If I was cold, it meant that I was ali-...moving. Up and moving about. I breathed out and cursed as I shivered, dryly observing the air crystallise with the sheer frigidity.

Then the numbness came. It crept on the outer skin and, combined with the cold, created a...different feeling, like I was being electrocuted when I was half-asleep. Like I was only half-aware of the power that came with the soft black robes that hid me from view, the me that hid from the light of day...and with good reason too.

I looked at my arm and saw nothing but cold grey bone instead of cold peach skin. The transformation...was complete then.

A growling sound brought me back to now, and I glared at the scythe that stood ready by my side. Too ready. "Don't even think about it. We don't feed, unless we need to."

When I finished talking, images started to creep inside my head, through the strange fog of half-sleep; images of men and women wearing shackles that clicked together as they swept the smooth floors or washed the windows, them fast asleep in rooms devoid of sound, so quiet...

So quiet. As if they were dead.

"No fucking way." I hissed, "Don't even try, you evil little piece of shit." The scythe reared, but my fingers curled around the staff of the scythe, effectively stopping it. "Come on, already. We're doing just a routine check of the grounds here, and don't expect a change of heart anytime soon."

The scythe tried to probe through my mind again, but I yanked it until its blade was at my eye level, "I said that's enough."

It continued growling at me. If anything, it was more determined to drive me insane. Fighting the strong urge to bash my head against the wall, I just started moving to the southern wing of the Church. Like it wasn't enough that I had to go on patrols with a psychotic gut-ripper as my only ally. I so did not need this mind-game shit.

 _Might as well get this over with._  The sooner I was done with scanning the area, the sooner I can force this bastard back into my body.

 _Concentrate, Frau._ I told myself, working my way gradually through the numbing brain-fog, focusing on my surroundings. The scythe kept drawing me to the vision of the prisoners who were seeking redemption, but I managed to coax it into scanning the immediate area as I moved.

There was not a soul in sight. There shouldn't be anyway, considering that the Church had a strict curfew and all, but once in a while there'd be the occasional idiot who'd sneak out on a dare, head to the Sisters' rooms and...well. Castor caught them more than once, on account of one "Sister" always staying awake each time it happened.

_I'd love to know which merciless bastard up there let him have the Manipulation Zaiphon in the first place. Even sick jokes have their limits..._

Half an hour later, I was standing in the courtyard opposite the corridor leading to the West Wing. The south wing of the Church had been completely clean, devoid of Kor or Wars.

That didn't make me feel any more at ease. Rather, I felt like something was off.

It was too quiet here now, considering the crazy stuff that had been happening some time before.

Like the calm before the storm.

"...What's up?" I asked wearily, when the scythe reared up again, "If this is about those prisoners again, can't you take a fucking hint...?"

I stopped talking, as something intruded through my mind again. The scythe was sensing something and this time, it wasn't tainted souls or Kor or Wars. It was something so blinding that it flared through my mind with an incredible white light.

It was so blinding, so unexpected that it blazed through my mind, until I couldn't even think anymore.

At least, I think I didn't. I could remember feeling.

Vague snatches of thoughts, most of them containing a  _What?_ or a  _How?_ or a  _Why?_ floated around in my head, that slipped through my concentration as soon as they were formed. I could sense an animal-like presence that came from the scythe as it edged towards the light curiously.

I stayed where I was. I felt the warmth emanating from that strange light even from the distance where I stood, calling and beckoning to me, promising to wash the goddamned cold feeling away. Promising that I'd never be cold again.

Never.

I felt curiosity. I didn't know what the hell that thing was, but it didn't feel...bad in any way. It was just different. I felt greed for the warmth that it emanated and envy that my horrid, cold body couldn't replicate that warmth.

And I felt fear. Fear of not what it could do to me, but of what  _I_ could do to  _it._

Fear...

Fear?

Why was I afraid?

What was this sense of foreboding? Why did I feel that it would be the end of me if I moved towards that light?

Why did I not care?

I wanted to feel that warmth. Chase away the cold. I just wanted to be  _free._

Of what?

My hand stretched of its own accord, closing the distance between me and that light. It was bright enough to see that my hand was covered in that same horrible grey, the colour that broke through my illusion.

I wasn't warm. I can never be, and no goddamn thing can change it.

"This...is an illusion." My words were so loud that they caused a pounding in my newly-decluttered head, "This isn't real. This isn't...real."

A dry cackling sound escaped from my mouth, following those words.

_No._

The scythe's blade flashed.

_No._

My arm lost feeling as the dark cold took over.

_No! Dammit, no!  
_

And the scythe reached hungrily for the light that was doomed to die.

_**STOP IT!** _

Something hard slapped against my arm and pushed the scythe away. My fingers slackened as the sting of the unexpected blow shocked me into a standstill. Undeterred, the scythe growled and flung itself at the white light.

_**I SAID STOP IT!** _

"...S...St...op..." I mumbled.

_**Frau!** _

"Stop it." I said. The cold had left and so had the poisoning warmth.

Where did that leave me?

_**Frau! Wake up!** _

Where did that leave me?

_**Frau!** _

The light dimmed for a moment. Just one moment. But that was enough to see that the source of light was a wisp of a silver fire so delicate, so luminescent...so  _pure_ that it looked like it would break from a single breath.

The fire trembled with each shaky breath that I took, the wisps of flame leaning towards me. My scythe let loose a screech that grated into my mind and made to attack the fire again, only to be deflected by something. The form was human, but the more I stared at it, the more hazy its form became.

The silhouette easily pushed the scythe away, and turned to face me.

_**Frau...** _

Something...was...off...

The silhouette held out what should have been its hand and moved closer towards me. I automatically took a step back.

"No." I said.

_**It's alright, Frau. Please.** _

"No. I'm not worth the warmth. I'm not worth the light." I said tiredly, the words dripping involuntarily from my mouth. The hand swept past the barrier mine tried and failed to form, and touched my face gently. The disembodied voice that floated through my mind spoke again, but the words were tinged with worry, fear and above all, sorrow. Ah, that emotion. I was more than a little familiar with that emotion and the receiving end of the hatred that was always,  _always_ tied to that sorrow.

_**Wake up.** _

The other hand joined the first, that had by this time moved from my face to my shoulder. The other hand then moved to the other shoulder.

_**Wake up.** _

And with an incredibly strong yank, pulled me towards that light.

"Frau?"

Emerald green eyes were boring into where my own should have been. I frowned.  _Emerald green? Castor and Lab don't have emerald green eyes..._

_Someone else does...Teito. Teito has green eyes._

"Teito?"  _No, Teito can't see me. I'm not here._

"Frau? That's you, isn't it?" Teito asked. It was him then...but there was something off about his voice. Something strangely off.

Something moved under my left hand and I looked down.

_...No. Damn it, no!_

Teito was in front of me, pinned to a door by a large, skeletal hand so tightly, it looked like he was having difficulty breathing. He shivered with each breath that he could take, as the cold from my hand trapped his incredibly warm body far worse than any death grip. His hands were tentatively placed on my shoulders with failing strength.

And, right there, right in front of his face was that fucking scythe just inches away from the terrified boy's face. Just waiting for me to give the signal to move forward.

And end the boy's life.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- x-x-x

**Author's Notes:**

**[1] The Eye of Raphael info: This is stuff I made up for the story and is in no way true where the original story-line of 07 ghost is concerned.**

**[2] Hakuren's view on Teito's age: Hakuren doesn't actually know Teito's age yet and speculates from his height that he's barely above twelve years. Who wouldn't? I mean, come on. That kid is so puny he could fit right in if he was thrown in a kiddy castle(y'know, those ones which are inflated and you can bounce all over, like balloon floats) *shot***

**[3] Frau's nickname: "Akai" literally translated means "Red" in Japanese. So, Frau is still calling him Red, only he's switched to Mayonaka's native language to make her feel more at ease(D'awww, so cute!).**


	14. Mirrored

Ante Mortem

Chapter 13: Mirrored

Teito:

It wasn't like I didn't know what my original life had been like.

True, I didn't have any memories of the past, save for the ones I had gathered-painfully-over time at the Church, and even those did not give me a clear idea of what I had been like, serving instead to remind me of the…person I had known.

And lost.

The only physical remnant of the old Teito was a guitar, and being a musician did not give me much information on what he had been like either.

But…my body told an entirely different story.

When I'd first woken up and looked in the mirror, I'd assumed that the scars I saw were ones I'd attained in the bike crash in the desert, which was only logical since they looked fairly recent.

But on closer inspection, I'd discovered that there were…certain things about me that made me  _different._ In a good way or a bad way, I had yet to determine, but the difference was there, all the same.

The rest of my body had been covered from head to toe in bruises that had to have been more than a few days old, my arms had weakened, strained muscles that made me feel like I'd carried a house in them for two days straight, the undersides of my feet were scabbed at the toes and were dirtied beyond belief and on the whole, my limbs and torso showed signs of hardening under adverse conditions, burning and aching as though I'd run a marathon in the Desert of Seven on a track made entirely of burning coal and finally, an angry-red brand of some sort that was carved into my back.

And it wasn't just what my body looked like, it was the things that my body  _did_. I found that I was much stronger than the orphans and acolytes my age at the Church, and more agile as well. I had a habit of standing in the shadows and watching what other people did, often predicting what they were going to do next, which, as I'd learnt with a certain blonde acolyte, was definitely not normal.

Not to mention my unexplainable Zaiphon ability.

It was something I acknowledged, a part of me that I assumed would be explained when I found out who I really was.

In all fairness, it did. But not in the way I'd expected.

" _I should've expected this from you, taking a sklave's side!"_

Sklave.

The word tasted bitter in my mouth.

_I…why do I feel like I know this word?_

_Sklave._

_Why do I feel like I_ should  _know this word?_

_What does it mean?_

I didn't want to ask Hakuren. He…already had enough issues to deal with, and he shouldn't get involved in my own. I sure as hell am not going to ask Shuri, or Hakuren's father. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't know where to find them.

Bishop Labrador and Bishop Castor were busier than ever with their Church duties, and barely had enough time to breathe, let alone help me try to solve my issue.

Frau…no. I couldn't ask Frau.

So I turned to the resources I already had: books. The problem was that I'd taken a large number of books from the library; enough to make me feel uncomfortable at the option of taking any more. The acolytes did have their exams coming up, after all…

So I started going through the books I already had, and strangely enough, didn't have to go far to get the explanation I needed. I didn't have to.

Sklaves were explained in every nook and cranny of them.

_..The word "Sklave" derives from the German word for slave, and in that right is self-explanatory to the common man…_

… _Sklaves are commonly employed in the higher nobility class of society, mostly for menial labour…_

_...According to a recent survey taken by the Barsburg Church, of the 89,000 people each year who succumb to the temptation of selling their soul to a Kor, over 70% of them are sklaves or had been sklaves at some point in their lives..._

… _There have been many protests as to their poor living conditions and harsh treatment from their masters, but these actions still pass unnoticed in modern day society. To most people, sklaves are little more than animals, and are treated according to this foul notion…_

…  _However, there is one class of sklave that had been, pre-Raggs War, banned from usage by the Empire, citing disregard against human life and lack of control over the individual sklave; the battle sklave. These sklaves are predominately used in the Army to execute enemy soldiers, especially in cases where legal jurisdiction prevented common soldiers from approaching their targets themselves…_

…  _Among all else, battle sklaves have been trained to kill mercilessly, using either brute force or Zaiphon ability, which far exceeds the ability of normal citizens…_

… _No matter the type of sklave, the brand that marks them remains the same; a scarlet circular mark situated on the lower back of the body. In most cases, the branding is done when the sklaves are little more than 8 years old, or even younger in special circumstances._ **[1]**

I touched my lower back, a few inches lower than the tail-bone where I saw the branded red mark on me, and felt the slight bump of uneven skin through the thin cloth. The details of the brand in the book matched exactly with the engravings on the brand on my body.

So that meant that I truly was a sklave in my previous life. This fact also coincided with my memories of Mikage; I may have been serving him and his family. But then, how did I meet up with Shuri Oak? Was he related to Mikage? Truthfully, he looked more like Hakuren…that same blonde hair and the sharp angle of the eyes…the only difference in colour…a cousin, perhaps. Or maybe that was some sort of racial trait? There were a lot of people with blonde hair among the ones that visited the Church, now that I think about it…

And if Shuri's story was true and I did meet up with him, then I really did…steal? And kill?

I really stole the Eye of Raphael?

Did that mean I had been lying to Hakuren too?

 _No. Don't be ridiculous,_ The logical part of my mind reasoned,  _Before the confrontation, I had no idea that I was a sklave. And maybe Shuri was mistaken, as Hakuren's father commented. I received no memories so far of the actual theft and murder plot itself._

But did that exonerate me of the crime?

_It isn't really my crime if I didn't do it._

But I didn't receive any memories convincing me otherwise.

_No, and I didn't receive any convincing me that I did it in the first place._

I broke the stare-down with the ceiling I'd been having for what felt like hours as I had the heated debate with the logical part of me and the…not-so-logical part of me, I suppose-though for the life of me, I could not tell which was which-and sat up on the bed, gazing at the clock.

It was almost curfew for the inhabitants of the Church. I rubbed my eyes and stared blearily at the glass wall. I honestly didn't want to sleep, even though my body was succumbing to it, little by little.

If I sleep, I dream.

I staggered to the closet and after rifling through it, pulled out clean clothes and proceeded to stagger to the bathroom.

At least until I felt it.

When I spun around and looked at what was behind me, my mind could only process three things.

My first thought was that the cold feeling creeping up my spine was unnaturally familiar.

My second thought was that I shouldn't have been seeing what I saw before me.

And my third thought was that I was going to die.

Then my mind shut down in panic as skeletal fingers forced their way through my body.

I was vaguely aware of my mouth uttering almost feral screams as my hands hung limply at my sides, of my body arching upwards trying to channel the pain through to my limbs in an attempt to lessen it.

All that I was truly aware of was the mind-numbing cold that settled in my being and spread through me, tightening around me with each breath that I took. With every heartbeat. With every blink of my eyes.

I was dying.

It didn't hurt. But it frightened me.

Death frightened me.

Something brushed against my mind, and even my cold-numbed mind could sense the hunger it screamed into me. A hunger that I could not understand. But I could understand one glaring fact.

Obtaining me would satisfy that hunger.

The screams dried up in my throat as the adrenaline finally kicked in, trying to fight the cold that gripped me. It did little to alleviate the cold, but it did allow my mind to clear somewhat.

And finally, I could register the voice that whispered in my mind.

_**I hate myself because I kill.** _

_**I hate myself because I live.** _

My breathing stilled, my body eased, my hands had slackened in disbelief long before I recognized this voice.

_Frau?_

_**I live because they die.** _

_**I am an abomination of life.** _

The thoughts kept flowing into me, as if they were a flood no dam could contain. Even as I fully comprehended the first of them, more and more came. My arms slowly raised and I touched the hand that dug through my soul, feeling cold bone where flesh should have been.

My other arm found the wall I had been pushed against and my fingers gripped the marble, as if they could sap the warmth from it and fuel me instead.

It didn't, of course. But I managed to pull myself up into a sitting position, as, gasping for air, I looked straight into the eyes of the thing that was about to kill me.

Where void should have been, a pool of incredibly blue eyes staring back at me.

My mouth moved and this time I made it move.

"STOP IT!" My hand felt like lead, but I willed it upwards and slapped at the skeletal one that dug through me. It gave way easily before me, yanking itself out till only the fingertips of the hand were probing into me.

The thing hissed; a low, guttural sound that sent prickles down my spine. That didn't sound human. That didn't sound human-like at all. I gritted my teeth to stop myself from yelling again when it tried to force its hand back inside me.

"I SAID STOP IT!" I choked out. My other hand left the wall and both of them clasped themselves on the wrist of the Ghost weakly, in an odd-looking hold.

Like my hands were clasped in prayer.

Cold wind brushed past my cheek and I realised that my eyes had closed when the Ghost had attacked me again. I opened them to see the skull of the Ghost just inches from my face, angled towards me, his breath mingling with my own in an alien, dangerous intimacy that made my heart skip a painful beat.

_**Your soul…** _

_**Give me your soul, Teito Klein.** _

The way he said…no, thought the words was different than the outpour of curses that he uttered earlier.

There was no emotion. None.

And somehow, that scared me more than the words themselves.

"Frau!"

Something clicked in my mind then. No, not my mind…his?

I felt that damned numbing cold disappear, followed by a rush of warmth, so sudden, it left me feeling heady. As a consequence, the full extent of the pain had registered, and I could feel my throat spasm in hacking coughs that echoed in my throat with a horrible wet sound. And shit, the pain…! It felt like he was boring a hole through my ribs and taking apart my heart while I'm still conscious.

It was too painful…gods…I can't…

_**Save me.** _

A plea. A whispered plea.

And the sorrow in it was so unlike the perverted, rule-breaking, self-confident bastard that I knew.

I looked back up at him. Was it my imagination, or had the holes where his eyes should have been changed somehow? It was hard to tell…my sight was blurry due to sweat and tears, but I could have sworn that they looked much…they looked…sad. Anguished.

"Frau…" I breathed. I shifted my fingers and winced at the pins-and-needles feeling in my hands, that had somehow managed to anchor themselves on, despite the thing's…Frau's struggle. I carefully flexed them, keeping a firm grip on the wrist-bone when it hit me.

Either my hands had grown cold by holding his for too long…or…

"It's alright, Frau. Please…" It wasn't my imagination; his hand really was growing warmer! I was aware of a slight pull on my arms and I looked down to see that he had retracted his hand from my chest completely. I could have collapsed in relief then and there, but an aftershock, a shadow of the pain stopped me.

I huffed. It still hurt like hell, but I could think through the pain now. And right now, both voices in my head were shouting at me to get it together and help Frau.

He kept on staring at me as I pulled myself back up into a sitting position against the wall, wincing. And I stared at him right back as I did so. That hand that had been this close to touching my heart…and probably my soul earlier was still hovering above me and I didn't want to take any chances.

"Wake up."

My words had an instantaneous effect on him  _and_ me; he recoiled as if I'd physically struck him and I clapped my hands around my ears as the voices that had spoken in my head earlier, the voices that I thought had left me along with his touch, shouted in protest, each yelling at an uncomfortably loud volume the same words:

_**Die, child of man!** _

"Wake up." The words were much stronger now, bolstered by discomfort. As if in response to my pain, Frau groaned, pushing me away with that large bony hand. The action was unexpected and it knocked whatever little wind I had left in me. Before I could do so much as blink, something moved in the corner of my eye, catching my attention. I looked and saw…a shadowy… _something_ gather over the sleeve of his right arm. The robe rippled at that area and pulled itself back.

Bile rose in my throat when I saw the full extent of the arm. No flesh. No blood. Nothing to even prove that the man in front of me was even alive at all. Just cold, greying bone.

The darkness quivered, then flooded his right arm completely, finally gathering at a spot right in the middle, before it shot upwards, and curved in the air.

The flash of light was my only warning before the voices in my head screamed as one, their keening reaching a fevered pitch that blocked my hearing and made me dizzy. I was dimly aware that I was shouting along with them, and my head hit the wall with a painful  _thud_ , narrowly escaping the death scythe that slashed at the air and demanded my blood. It came ever more close to me, stretched so far that the thread connecting the scythe with Frau's hand was taut, blade outwards, practically screaming for blood. My blood. I leaned back against the wall as far as I could, barely breathing while my heart pounded fiercely, uncomfortably loud in my ears.

My fingers sank into something soft and silky, like wind trapped in solid form, but was cold and sent an uneasy feeling running through me with every touch.

They'd clasped onto Frau's shoulder blades.

A shudder ran through him, a sigh escaped in a gust of frigid air that washed over my face.

And with that single motion, the voices stopped.

I took in a deep breath and gripped the robes tightly as fresh pain shot through me. And the fact that Frau's hand was pressing more than a little against my midsection wasn't exactly helping either.

I felt something give in our shared consciousness, and with a metallic  _shik_ it finally gave way, his thoughts leaving my mind completely.

The shock came first, then the brief sense of emptiness.

But I looked back at his eyes. Before they separated…did I imagine that feeling?

"Frau?" It came out no stronger than a whisper, but he jerked at that, like I'd yelled at him. Those blue eyes I saw bored into mine, and I resisted the urge to back away.

_I won't run away anymore!_

"Teito?" Strange. The reply wasn't echoing in my head. Wait, that meant-!

"Frau? That's you, isn't it?" I asked, hardly daring to hope. My voice cracked in the middle, but I didn't care. I didn't care so long as…

"What's…" Frau's question died away as he really saw what was in front of him. Even though we weren't mentally linked anymore, I could clearly feel the shock of it run through him. With a quick swipe, he pulled his hand away from me and used it to yank at the scythe.

"I said no, you vindictive son of a bitch!" He hissed. His hand gripped at the staff of the scythe and he pushed it back in his arm so hard, I was worried the bone would break from the force of it. I slumped to the floor, gripping at my chest. From the corner of my eye, I saw the Ghost bend over, clutching at his scythe arm. If I could see the jaws of that skull in the hood, I'm pretty sure he'd be clenching them right now.

"Fra-" I was stopped by a vicious, hacking cough that tore my throat apart and made me feel like my chest was on fire. I tried to take a deep breath, but the coughs just kept on coming, worsening with each new one, to the point where I couldn't even feel my throat and tongue anymore. My head felt like it was going to snap off my neck.

I finally stopped coughing just long enough to look at Frau and whatever words I wanted to say-hell, even I didn't know what I'd say in that situation-died along with the cough.

Frau was still standing there, looming over me, his stance all the more intimidating with the difference in height. His arms were back under black robes again and his hood had flipped over his face, shielding the skull completely. As I watched him watch me through blurry, tear-filled eyes and an aching throat, I felt a faint sense of déjà vu.

Where had I seen this scene before?

At the back of my mind, I felt a memory skitter away from my probing search. I frowned, digging deeper, past the fear and anxiety and fatigue and pain…

Voices spoke and I saw a flash of black and gold. Cold hands touching my face, hands with a distinct smoothness that was not of warm flesh, but something more like marble…or bone.

I felt the faint sensation of unnatural wind again and looked up to see the man turn away from me and head towards the door.

"Wait!" I croaked, catching the sleeve of his robe. The minute I touched it, I felt an unusual tingle pass through me, as though I was being chilled from the inside and I faintly smelled a hair-raising, but strangely sweet mixture of flowers and dead bodies.

Frau stopped the moment he heard me speak. Without turning to face me, he said, "Let me go."

 _Let go! Let go! Let go!_ My brain practically screamed at me.

"No." My mouth answered.

"I said let go damned brat."

"I'm not a brat." The words came out almost automatically, the anger in them halted.

"Teito."

"I won't let go!" I yelled, "I'm not going to let you go, Frau! If I do, I'll…" I stopped and looked away, tightening my grip on his sleeve.

_If I do, I'll…what?_

"Do you even realize who you're talking to, brat?" Something prodded against my temple. I looked back, only to have my face covered with those large hands. It was icy cold; not numbing like the mind-link had been, but painfully so, like there were pointed spears poised right above my skin.

I automatically shied away from the touch, but a hard yank on my robes stopped me. The hand whose sleeve I'd been clinging onto grabbed right back at me, keeping me from moving away.

"Do you realize  _what_ you're talking to?" Frau whispered.

I tried to talk, but my mouth wouldn't move. Even if it could, what would I have said?

What  _could_ I say to the man who just tried to kill me?

 _But you saved me, Frau._ And even though I didn't understand what was going on, one thing was obvious.  
If I let Frau kill me, I wouldn't be the only one to die in this room.

I pushed back against his touch. He let me, loosening his grip on my clothes, so I could sit back up again and look at him.

"Who am I talking to?" I echoed his question.

He stared at me. I stared at him right back.

"I'm talking to Frau, a stupid, perverted Bishop who for the life of me I can't understand how he became one, who reads adult magazines and sneaks in meat between meals, who's stupid, selfish and completely irresponsible, who…saved my life when I was damned to die, who brought me here and saved me from the Kor. Hell, you keep saving me and I probably don't even know it." I chuckled, but the painful lack of humour in my voice was evident, "It's not fair, you know. You just keep going around with that shit-eating grin on your face and cause problems for the rest of us, even when you risk your own life. Ever think about that?"

"Teito…" Frau began, but I glared at him till he relapsed back into silence.

"There are people in this Church who care about you, idiot." I flicked him on the fa-…well, skull. And winced. "Ow."

A jerk ran through Frau and a whoosh of air washed over me. For a moment, I was concerned; is he being taken over again? Then, I recognize the sound.

What the hell?

That damned, poor excuse for a bishop was  _laughing_ at me?

"Oi, listen to people when they're talking to you, retarded bishop!" I spat at him, "You don't just sit there and laugh at them when they-"

"You're a really, really strange kid, you know that? What kind of person starts lecturing the guy who just tried to kill them not 10 minutes back? What kind of brat," His voice had lowered at this point and I had to strain my ears just to catch his next words, "would risk his own life to reach out to a killer?"

I stared at him as he pulled his hand back, still sitting a few inches away from me.

"I really am a sadistic prick aren't I?" He continued, sounding utterly defeated, "For wanting to kill you even as you uttered those words."

My pulse quickened.

My breathing increased, my breaths more shallow.

My mind was screaming at me to get away, get as far and away as humanely possible from the man that was in front of me, before he ripped me apart with his bare hands. This time, for good.

I flicked him on the head again.

He didn't expect that either. "Wha-?"

"Stop making me do that!" I hissed, massaging my fingertips.

"Why do you keep doing that?" Frau asked, just as exasperated.

"Because you don't listen to me, dammit!" I stopped, took a deep breath and continued, "Like I said before, listen to people when they talk to you." I reached out. He was the one that flinched away this time. I ignored the reaction, stretching until both hands were on his face, effectively stopping him.

"I don't know why you keep all the pain to yourself. Honestly, I'm not sure I want to know; I'm occupied enough as it is trying to figure out my own messed-up past. But you have people who care about you, Frau! You have people waiting for you at the end of each day, ready to give you an earful for your antics at the Church, ready to hear your excuses," This time when I laughed, it felt real. Genuine. "Ready to listen."

"I can't. Not about this, Teito." He sound utterly defeated, "There are some things you just can't share with other people. This is one of them."

"I'm really starting to wonder if your skull being thick is circumstantial or not." I huffed, "I keep saying this enough. Don't make me repeat it again; there are people who care about you. Isn't that reason enough for not dying?" I felt a cough coming up again as I talked and absentmindedly kneaded my fist into the centre of my chest to ease the pain.

"You don't have to tell them about this if you don't want to. But just remember that they're there. And, I've told you this before too." I stopped for a minute to try and find the right words, "If there's something that you can't tell them, you can…tell me."

"You said that you had enough issues as it is." Frau pointed out.

"Yeah, but I quickly learnt here that my wish is no-one's command." I sighed.

Frau laughed again, this time much softer than before. Instead of the same shudder that ran through his body, I felt a ripple of amazing power, warming me through my fingertips. And right before my eyes, the bone that made up his skull wavered and disappeared, as if the sight, the touch,  _everything_ had been an illusion, leaving smooth peach skin underneath.

"F-Frau?"

He seemed to have felt it too. He raised a bony finger to his face, taking care not to disturb the places where my hands lay and pressed it, feeling the impossibly soft touch of his face.

"Amazing." I breathed, as if an awry touch, a stray breath could break the spell. My palms were cupping Frau's cheeks, the skin glowing and appearing almost iridescent, illuminated in a ghostly light.

"How?" He asked, undisguised curiousity...and something else in his voice, "How did you do that?"

I blinked, surprised, "How did I-...you mean, this never happened before?"

"No, never." He replied, frowning slightly. His hands folded over mine and I watched in wonder as the bone of his fingertips glowed with the same unearthly light and flesh rippled into being where bone once was.

He pulled one of my hands from his face and stared at the ephermeal skin.

"Does it hurt?" I eventually managed to ask. Frau reluctantly tore his gaze away from our hands and looked back at me, almost bemusedly, as if he'd forgotten I was even there.

"Of course not." The shock faded from his face, finally replaced by a true smile, "Idiot brat."

A flash of light caught my eye then and I turned my head towards the floor-length window.

 _Sunrise?_ I thought, looking at the scarlet-lilac tinged sky in disbelief,  _We've been sitting here for so long?_ Or had Frau's attack on me gone longer than I thought, the time flying unbidden as I lost all sense of tracking it in the pain?

The smile slid off his face as he followed my line of sight, staring at the rising sun with something close to loathing. He pulled his hands away, both from my hand and his face, letting my own fall limply back to my side, breaking the spell. I watched, almost detached, as the vision of Frau's living body disappeared right before my eyes, transformed back into bone.

"Go get some sleep." He said curtly, turning away from me.

"But..."

"No buts, Teito." I opened my mouth to protest, but a yawn came out instead. And then I was aware of the strange heaviness on my eyes, putting much more strain on them than usual and a lethargy in my limbs that had nothing to do with pain.

"That's what I thought." He said, sounding almost smug.

"Shut up. Damned," Yawn, "Bishop."

I sleepily pushed myself up and made my way to the bed, not caring that I was still wearing the white cloak. I practically threw myself on the comforter, groaning in relief.

"No shoes in bed."

"I know that!" I snapped, already unfastening the brown loafers I normally wore and pulling off the black socks, "Geez, quit ordering me around already!"

I expected a smart-aleck reply, but none came as he just stared at me mutely. I pulled at the clasp with numb fingers and finally managed to pull the coat off, letting it drop at the side of the bed. I paused when I realized something, "What will you do now, Frau?"  
"Right now, I'm going back to patrol. It's probably a good thing that I already finished it before I...came here."

Hesitation. So he did regret it?

"...I see." Was all I was able to say, as I finally lay down on the bed. I heard a faint rustle of robes as he started making his way to the door.

Hesitation.

Did I regret it?

"Why?"

I barely heard my own question, but he seemed to hear just fine. I couldn't hear the rustling sound anymore.

"Because I have to, kid. For what it's worth," I forced myself not to look at him and stare instead at the ceiling above. It was hard for him to say this, I could tell, and me gawking at him wouldn't help anything, "I didn't want to either. I'm sorry."

The door swung.  _Click._

I turned to the side. It was already light enough that I could see the gardens through the window. Horizontal regions of the sun's rays fell upon the garden, and wherever they touched, the plants awoke and raised their stems to the sky, savouring the blanket of gold.

My eyes closed and the afterimage of the sun burned away at my eyes, its touch slowly replaced by something less warm. Something more cold.

Something that smelled of death and flowers.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- x-x-x-x-x-x

Hakuren:

"Really, I'm fine, Ouida."

I didn't have to look up to see who was scoffing at that statement. Rather loudly, I might add.

"Liam, we're in the Library right now." I continued, flipping a page of the book I was reading absently. Ouida's little brother merely continued his hour-long staredown with me...that is, if you can call someone staring at someone else's bent head a 'staredown'.

"You don't look well at all, Hakuren." Ouida continued as if I hadn't interrupted his sermon, "Are you sure you don't need me to talk to the Sister and let you off for the day?"

My head snapped up. "Gods, no!", I hissed, "I can't afford to miss any more Free Study sessions right now!"

"Honestly, I think you can afford to skip a few more." Liam sighed, "You're practically the most studious one of the entire group."

"Don't be ridiculous." I muttered, looking back to the paragraph I was memorizing. I tried recalling the verses in my head without seeing them and groaned in frustration when I discovered I missed one. Or two. Was it two? For the life of me, I couldn't tell if the thing between the words was a hyphen or a ink-blot...

I rubbed my eyes and started memorizing the verses again.

Or, at least, I started to before the book was pulled out of my hands.

"Hey!"

"Hakuren, we're in the Library right now." Liam reminded me, finger raised to his grinning mouth. When he saw the look on my face though, his smile faded and he looked more serious, "I understand that you want to pass the Exams more than anything, but you need your rest as well you know."

"Like I said I'm perfectly-"

"Exhausted and starving for a decent meal." Ouida said, skewering me with what appeared to be a tempered version of Liam's stare, "Don't deny it. Sister Athena says she hasn't seen you during breakfast today."

I gaped at them. "How in the name of the Chief of Heaven do they manage to keep track of all the acolytes and orphans here?"

"So you admit it?" Liam asked.

"Can you give me that book back please?" I countered.

Liam flipped through the pages of the book, a bit too roughly for my liking; that particular copy of the Barsburg Bible had seen more years in the Library than Ouida, Liam and me combined. He finally stopped at a random page and asked, "Volume 5, Chapter 34 of Heaven's History: 'From the Darkness'..."

"'Oh newborn Lambs, lend me your ears." I answered automatically.

He then placed it back on the table and plucked another volume from the tower of hardbacks in front of me, "Mm...ah, here. Volume 20, CHapter 3 of Heaven's History: 'Into the Sea'..."

"'About the Sins and Punishment of the Fallen Babel'."

He then repeated the process, this time extorting the book from the very bottom of the pile. Ouida hastily moved to steady the pile as I stared at Liam, a little piqued now. What quote was he...?  
"Volume 77, Last Chapter of Heaven's History-"

"'When you see the light, come to me.'"

Liam stared at me for a minute, before rounding on his brother, "See, I told you, nii-san! I told you it was 'When you see the light', not, "The Last Ray of Light'!" **[2]**

Ouida rubbed the back of his head, "Actually, it's both. Like I said before, because the Barsburg Bible is written in the old tongue, there are several different ways to interpret it." At the sight of his little brother's panic-stricken face though, he laughed, "Don't worry, you can write any version of the verse for the Exam, as long as it's relevant."

"R-really? Thank goodness." Liam said, practically deflating in relief. I pulled the book away from his hands and carefully kept it back on the pile, pulling out a new volume to read. Ouida had noticed.

"Please don't." He pried the book effortlessly from my hands. When I opened my mouth to protest, he cut me off, "Are you having difficulty remembering verses?"

"Eh?"

He shook his head, "It's written all over your face, Hakuren. And besides, you don't usually linger on one volume for longer than an hour."

"...Wait, I was reading that for over an  _hour_?" I shot a look at the towering pile of volumes.

"The study session ends in 10 minutes." Ouida said by way of explanation, "And you've been staring at that book as if your life depended on it."

"Aren't you quite observant." I snapped, irritated mostly because his guess was right on the money.

Ouida smiled and ruffled Liam's hair affectionately, "When you're a big brother, you tend to notice a lot of little things."

"Don't, nii-san!" Liam moved out from under his brother's hand, "That hurts!"

I watched Ouida laugh and talk with his brother, teaching him patiently verse by verse until Liam could say them without looking at the book once.  _It must be nice,_ I mused,  _to have someone to lean on like that. Someone to support you through good times and bad..._

 _Not like I can say the same for my family though._ The very idea of me approaching Shuri or...my father and asking them to help me learn my verses was laughable. They'd already made their opinion of me studying to become a priest clear enough as it is and I didn't want to come in contact with them until they were safely far and away from the Church.

The headache, which seemed to have slunk to the back of my skull, now returned with a vengence, the mind-numbing force increased tenfold. I groaned and let my head sink onto the table. Gods, they manage to make my life miserable even when they're not in the room.

 _But I can't stop now,_ I thought grimly, propping my head in my hands,  _too much is at stake here._ I decided to learn at least a few more verses before I leave. Ouida and Liam look occupied enough right now...I picked up a volume and started reading.

Somehow, I did manage to cram about 5 pages' worth before the bells sounded. Satisfied for the time being, I started to keep all my books back.

"We'll be going on ahead then, Hakuren. Liam and I have to do some Bascules practice before lunch." Ouida called. I nodded absently, checking the spine of each book to read the name and stack it on the right shelf.

"And that's the last one." I said out loud, stacking the final volume back on the shelf, "Now, I think I'll go get some lunch before my stomach gives out on me..."

I'd barely walked past the double doors of the library when I stopped dead.

Music. Guitar music, to be exact.

Teito.

Or is it?

I shook my head. Of course it was Teito; no-one else in the Church carried a guitar around, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No-one else carried a guitar around, period.

And still that hesitation was there.

 _Don't be ridiculous. It's just Teito._ I made my way resolutely to the source of the sound and found him leaning against a marble pillar as expected. He had his back turned to me, face towards the courtyard outside. Eyes closed, a look of intense concentration on his face, he didn't even seem to notice I was there as he strummed his prized possession, singing:

_**The last time I locked you out** _

_**You knocked down the walls** _

_**Last time I checked** _

_**I'm not at your beck** _

_**And call,** _

_**Do you even know that?** _

_**That stupid grin on your face** _

_**Remind me of the time** _

_**I greeted the days,** _

_**Smiling** _

At this point, Teito took a deep breath and opened his eyes. He frowned for a bit, as if pondering something, then cleared his throat, closed them back again and started strumming the guitar.

 _Looks like he's busy. Maybe I should come back later..._ I was about to step away from the place when a snorting sound stopped me. I looked back to see the fyulong hatchling survey me closely with gleaming, intelligent eyes.

"W-what?" I asked of her when she continued staring at me interestedly. The dragon padded closer to me and said,  _ **A wavering heart could kill you in battle, son of Oak.**_

"But I'm not fighting for my family." The response was quick, came of its own accord and for the life of me, I could not figure out where the words came from. I knew she wasn't talking about the fight with my family. Then why...?  
 _ **The question of who you're fighting remains though.**_

Who I'm fighting?

The hatchling turned away and padded towards Teito, who was too busy playing his guitar to notice her approach. She sat near his foot and lazily swiped at it with her claw.

Teito's eyes flew open and in the second before her claw touched his foot, he jumped away from the spot and dashed towards the shadows thrown by the marble pillars against the sun, melding with the inky blackness and disappearing completely.

Gone in literally the blink of an eye.

"Tei...to?"

"Hakuren?" Came the surprised reply from behind me. I looked back to see him stand there; feet spread apart, right hand raised in front of him, left hand on the handle of the guitar he'd slung again on his own back, "Is that you?"  
Something brushed past my leg. Kururu.

"Of course it's me. Who else would it be?" I asked. Teito scratched his head sheepishly, "Sorry. I was just...well, I got caught up in the song I was writing and..." At this point, he'd noticed who else was with me, "Kururu? You're here too?"

 _ **I'm merely taking a walk around the area.**_ Kururu explained, folding her wings and holding her head in a dignified manner,  _ **Like Mother has explained before, we are not confined to the walls of a single room. Things have dulled somewhat since the Festival had ended and I found myself in need of a break from the routine.**_

"I see." Teito nodded, "Tsukiyomi-san is well I trust?"

 _ **Yes, she is. However, Mother herself is in want for a change in routine. Perhaps when you would finish your song...?**_ That sentence was less of a question and more of an order.

"Alright. It would be nice to see Tsukiyomi-san again." Teito smiled, although it looked slightly strained. I pushed back the grin that was making its way through to my face and said, "Anyway, Teito. Lunch will start in half an hour and I was thinking of waiting by the meal-room entrance. Do you want to come along?"

"Eh? Ah...well. I'm..."

"Don't tell me you're not hungry again." I sighed, "How do you not manage to pass out in the hallways living on a diet of water and air? Oh, wait." I added, as if the idea had just struck me, "You do."  
"When you're done mocking me," Teito said heatedly, stomping past me, "you can lead the way to the meal-room."

"Sure, sure." I said, really grinning now, "But you're going in the wrong direction."

He stopped dead at that, turned his head back to glare at me and started to stomp off in the opposite direction.

 _ **What a fool.**_ Kururu snorted.

He'd marched about ten paces before he stopped again. From here, I could see the scowl on his face had melted away, replaced by a more thoughtful look. "Oh, that's right. Um, Hakuren." He walked back towards where he stood before and bent down. When he came back up, he was carrying a batch of loose, yellowing papers in his hands, blotted at the corners with black ink.

"You mentioned before that you couldn't find the last three volumes of the Barsburg Bible right?" Teito clarified, seeing my confused expression, "Well, it turns out that I...that is to say, the me from my past knew more about the Bible than the normal person. I jotted down what came to me from my memory, but I don't know whether all three volumes are there so..."

I took the pages from him and flipped through them carefully. In each page, he'd inked down neatly the verses for the last 5 volumes, all in the old tongue, one-sided to prevent excess blotting from the black ink. It looked completely genuine, word for word, that I could easily believe he'd ripped the pages from the original volumes themselves, if I hadn't seen them earlier.

"You wrote all of this?" I asked, just to make sure, carefully keeping my shock level to a minimum.

Teito looked slightly fidgety now, "Um...the Sisters keep giving me some extra paper daily when I told them I wanted to write a song or two, but I was stuck for more than a week and the paper just piled up." He shrugged, "It seemed wasteful to just keep it there, and then I remembered what you said about those volumes the second time we...'met'."

The second time we met being me barging right into his room, pulling him out of bed and asking him a hundred and one questions. I arranged the papers and looked back up at him, "These will do. I'd found only the last volume of the Bible after the Kor attacked the Library."

"Is that so?" Teito asked, looking relieved, "That's good, then. Eh, I mean," He added hastily, "Not good that the Kor attacked the Library, um, good that you can find it somewhat useful and..."

"Teito, relax." I said, "I'm not implicating you of anything. Can't you realize when people are thanking you, idiot?" He looked up, eyes wide as I said those words.

As I stared back at him, all I could think was,  _Why is that such a shock to you?_

_Haven't people ever thanked you before?_

"I'm not an idiot." Was all Teito said. He resumed walking back in the direction of the Dining Hall, paused and said, "Kururu-san, are you coming?"

 _ **No, human. I don't wish to bore myself with a display of humans eating grass.**_ She sniffed,  _ **For the life of me, I cannot understand how you manage to do it. But then, who am I to judge the worshippers of God? Go ahead, humans.**_ She waved us off dismissively with a paw,  _ **I shall walk back to our room myself.**_

"I see. Please take care and give my regards to Tsukiyomi-san." Teito said. The dragon scampered off without another word.

At that point, Teito spun around, looked me straight in the eye and asked, "What's wrong Hakuren?"

"What do you mean?" The words were automatic, a machine-like response and painfully obvious. The worry lurking in his expression came to light as he fiddled with the leather strap of the guitar, still looking straight at me.

"There are dark circles underneath your eyes, you have a stoop to your expression that normally isn't there, you look extremely pale, like you're going to melt if someone places you in the sun, your hair is all over the place, which is frankly quite astonishing considering you take pride in the way you've kept it, your robes are dusty at the edges, like you haven't bothered to take a bath in a couple of days and the lean, hungry look in your face suggests you haven't eaten much either." Teito listed off, counting each observation with a finger.

At the incredulous look on my face, he smiled. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm somewhat of an expert in this field."

"Ah." Right. It wasn't like I'd forgotten how incredibly weak Teito was in the first few days I'd met him. But the him from then and the him from now...both of them seem like completely different people.

The memories of a flash of red zaiphon and cold, jade eyes came to my mind unbidden and I forced it back down again. Not now.

"I've been studying for the upcoming Exam." I offered as a means of explanation, "The past few days have been more than a little hectic and I really haven't had the time to sort out my own affairs."

"The Bishop's Exam?" Teito asked.

"Yes. Do you know about it?"

"It's divided into two phases; the first phase being a written test where they test your knowledge of the 7700 verses of the 77 volumes of the Barsburg Bible and the second phase being a spell test where the main goal is to exorcise Kor. That much I know of." When he saw the expression on my face, he continued, "I learnt about it when I was researching the histories of the 7 Ghosts and Verloren."  
"You were researching them? For what?"

"It's more of a personal interest." The undertone of a lie was back in his voice. So was the sad look on his face, the look of a lost child in a mad, angry world.

"So what was the song you were playing earlier?" I asked, just to get his mind off things.

"Just a drabble that came to me yesterday. I haven't worked it out yet." He said, touching the handle of the guitar absently, "Truth be told, I'm thrilled to have a song to work out now. It's something to break the monotony." He paused, then gave a wry chuckle, "Sure, it's complicated, frustrating and makes me want to pull my hair out every time I try to work it out, but somehow," He smiled contentedly, "it all works out in the end and I find that the harrowing journey was worth it."

"Because you fight for something that you believe in." I completed, barely aware of his surprised expression as I continued, "You're prepared to walk down that path to fight for your rights, to make them see, to make your own family see..."

Damn. I cleared my throat and tried to speak again, but the growing lump there was making it difficult for me to talk.  
"Yeah." Teito said, eyes kind and understanding, "That's the general idea." He stopped a few feet away from me, hesitated, then pulled at my sleeve, "Come on. Let's go eat something."

"I come from a family of liars." The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. Not that I put much effort into trying to stop them, and it was such a relief to finally say it out loud.  
Momentary surprise flitted back on Teito's face, before he wiped it clean and remained silent.

"The Oak family is mainly comprised of politicians and soldiers. Every son is made to join the Government or Army and every daughter is married off to a rich family at the age of sixteen." I grimaced, "That was the fate destined for me, and I, as a young child, saw no other path that I could follow other than the one my family had already chosen. Until the time I had turned 12, when my mother had been tainted by a Kor."  
Teito visibly tensed but still remained silent, mouth clenched in a thin line.

"The marriage between my parents had been one of convenience. We were one of the richest families in all the Seven Districts and often, one of the most powerful as well. My father had no time for my mother and she devoted her entire being to raising me." I halted, cleared my throat and continued, "I do not know why she sold her soul to a Kor, but I guessed this depression may be the main reason. However, when she had done it and it was discovered the next morning, my father locked her up in her room and refused to let anyone see her." I chuckled darkly, letting the hate seep through my tone for a moment, "He was ashamed of the fact that a member of the Oak family had allowed themselves to take the weak path and make a pact with a Kor. I begged him many times to let a priest see her, but he refused, calling me foolish and irreconcilable just like her. In all fairness," I looked back up at him, "It may have been true."

"It really looked like the end for my mother...I loved her as I had never loved my father. All I could do was sit by her side and pray while she fought for her soul. But one morning, I'd woken up and saw a bishop by her bedside, assuring me that everything would be alright. I ran over to Mother's side and sure enough, the marks of the Kor had disappeared. That was Bishop Frau."  
Teito didn't make any movement at this point other than his fingers clenching in his free arm. But I saw it anyway. I continued, "He doesn't seem to remember me, but I am eternally in debt to him. You must understand, the idea of a stranger stepping in to help us at that point, even if the stranger was a priest was incomprehensible to me. It made me open my eyes to the kind of person I was to become if I took one more step on the path that was decided for me."  
"I left my house the following week to go to the Seventh District and become a bishop. As you can very well imagine, the idea didn't go down well with my family at all. Least of all, my father. My mother was the only one who encouraged me, but her voice was no longer heard in the family. She finally helped me pack and run away in the early hours of the morning. That was 5 years ago."  
My voice had gone dry. I coughed, trying to regain my composure.

"I'd managed to learn and train enough to finally attempt the Exam. And then, of course, they had to come along and ruin it. Father will never let me have my way; he'd always make sure I was stuck in my cage. And if I ever left, he would cut off my wings without hesitation. He's that sort of man, Teito." The boy in front of me looked on solemnly as I concluded, "He would not hesitate to cut down anything that stands in the way of him gaining power."

Teito directed his gaze to the view outside for a while, the uneasiness clear as day in his open face.

"I'm sorry for dumping everything on you like this. I...don't know what came over me."

"I'm not."

"Hm?"

"I said I'm not sorry. I'm happy." Teito said and true to his word, a pure, honest smile met my eyes, "Because you can finally talk to someone about your past. It means that you're healing and ready to face the future, doesn't it?"

I could feel the shock on my face, wide, exposed and as clear as day. It went as quickly as it came however and I could not help a small smile of my own.

It was strange. I could usually control my emotions quite well...no, I've been trained to. Never to show any emotion other than the frigid cold mask that invited no-one. It was imperative for a soldier or a politician; it could be considered as a sign of weakness. Again, I realized as I reflected upon it, it only started happening when I met Teito.

_Seriously. What is it about you that makes me so...unguarded? No...open. How do you make me feel so much at ease?  
_

_Is it because you live in a world of no lies?_

"Come on, chibi. Let's go eat." I said, ruffling his hair. He glared at me and opened his mouth to make a response-something like "I'm not a chibi, you stupid nine-tailed fox!"-but was interrupted by someone calling his name from behind.  
A vaguely familiar red-haired bishop walked up to us. With a polite smile, he said, "Ah, Teito-kun. And Hakuren-kun too." He nodded politely to me, "Are you off to the meal-room now?"  
"Yes, we are." I answered.

"I see. Are you particularly hungry, Teito-kun?" Teito shook his head and looked with growing curiosity at the Bishop, who continued, "I see. Normally, I wouldn't do this, since you both need to keep your strength up, but I regret...Teito-kun, would you come with me for a few minutes? It's quite important."

"I see." Teito nodded, "Ok, then. Lead the way, Castor-san." To me, he shrugged apologetically, "I'll see you soon, Hakuren."

"Alright."

He fell into step behind Bishop Castor willingly enough. My eyes were still on him as he walked away so I saw the small stumble in his step as he walked by his side. His face was raised to the Bishop as he tripped, eyes wide in surprise and an expression akin to fear.

The words were whispered but I could still hear them, even from this far away.

"The scent of death and flowers...?"

I didn't move until he left my line of sight. Then, my knees unexpectedly gave way and I leaned against a marble pillar to avoid sinking to the floor.

What in the name of...? What's happening to me?

 _This isn't like me._ I thought, clenching my teeth as another wave of dread raged through me,  _Why do I feel so...wary? Weak and helpless and wary like a caged animal?_

It may be the effects of my recent studying cycle. Bishop Labrador had advised me to avoid all-nighters entirely; they did strange things to the human brain, and in light of recent events, he said that it might start making me incredibly paranoid.

Maybe those sleepless nights studying the Barsburg verses had finally managed to catch up with me. I removed one of the hands from the pillar and flattened it against my face, sighing in relief when I felt the temporary cool of the marble against my eyes.

The tingle of instinct at the back of my neck insisted otherwise, insisted of things of a darker nature, things that have started more than 2 months back...

 _Somehow..._ I thought, as I opened them again and stared at the marble floor,  _And it doesn't feel like it's just me being tired and paranoid...somehow, something has felt off about this Church lately._   _It's not as peaceful as it used to be, is it?  
_ This wasn't just about the recent Kor attacks or the aura of darkness that I'd momentarily felt when I stepped out of the Church a few days back. There was something different about the Church ever since the runaway amnesiac Teito Klein landed here.

In my mind's eye, I saw the Teito I knew playing the guitar and singing like how I usually found him, completely at ease with the world. And then, his eyes turned steely, his gaze determined and the red Zaiphon that pulsed through him glowing, crackling where it touched the air.

 _What are you, Teito Klein?_ I sighed, feeling my head ache worse with every question, yet unable to stop myself from thinking them,  _Boy or monster?  
_ The minute I'd asked the questions in my head, I felt a surge of guilt flow through me, much stronger than before.

 _But what other answer is there?_ I demanded, questioning the part of me that wanted to protect him,  _What other explanation could there possibly be? These events occurring together is no coincidence. The gradual building of darkness, both in the hearts of the people and outside of the Church is pre-meditated; it's almost as if it was waiting for Teito to wind up hurt and alone at this Church, unable to defend himself..._

I looked up so fast my head cracked against the pillar. It just added to the already unbearable pounding in my head, but at the moment I didn't care.

 _What if...Teito was being targeted? He may not have been the main cause of the darkness here, but each and every attack seems to be directed specifically at him. Why..._ Then I remembered the incredibly powerful presence that was not-Teito,  _Is it because of him? Or is there something else in Teito's obscure past that is the cause of this? Was that why he was running away?_

If that was the case then...but wait, that didn't make sense either. Teito was more than capable of dealing with Kor by himself; his excellence at using the Bascules proved that. And even before he found his ability, the Bishops at the Church were more than adept at dealing with lone Kor.

Were they really that desperate to get at him? Or was it a build-up, a distraction for something else, a plan that went deeper than just a few random attacks...?

I sighed and pushed myself off the pillar, walking out of the corridor and into the courtyard. I needed to go and sit outside in the sun, I decided. It would end up making me more sleepy, but right now, I needed all the energy I could get. I spend way too much of it thinking about him.

 _Relax already._ I told myself firmly as I flopped down on a random section of the grass, trying to do just that as the chill of the wind touched my face.

But the thoughts in my head just wouldn't go away, fading to a faint buzzing at the back of my mind.

"My head feels like it's going to split..." I mumbled, pressing my fingers against my eyelids.

And just when I thought the pain in my head couldn't get any worse, a sharp shard of it went straight through my head, seeming to dig deep into me and leaving a blazing trail of fire in its wake. I groaned and clapped my hands to the sides of my head. Damn it, why couldn't it hold off until after I had lunch?

_**Hakuren.** _

A jolt of shock raged through me.

No. It couldn't be.

It happened just because I was thinking of him, that's all. I was just thinking about him...maybe subconsciously wondering what he was would say to me if I confronted him.

 _ **Hakuren!**_ Teito's voice spoke up from the back of my mind again. It was faint, almost lost in the murmuring of thoughts at the back of my mind, but it was still there.

 _Get out of my head!_ I raged.

_**Shut up and get out of the way, Oak brat!** _

_Oak brat? Wait a-!_ Instinct made me look up. For a single moment, an incredibly huge, coloured triangular glass shard hovered over my head, sparkling bright blood red in the light of the sun. In the minisecond that I sat froze in fear, two things registered.

Accompanying the blood red shard was a smattering of powdered glass and other various-sized pointed shards of various different colours, making me think of the towering mural windows of the Church.

The forget-me-not blue sky above was filled the screams of people. They were shouting vague things. I couldn't hear what most were saying but one sentence kept coming to me over and over again; "That boy! That boy who saved the Church! Is he alright?"

_...Teito!_

I pointed to the shard overhead, surrounding it with a ring of Zaiphon. It halted just a few inches from my face.

"Break!"

And it shattered into more powdered glass, scattering the ground with crimson rain. I let go of the Zaiphon and immediately ran to the centre of the courtyard where a large crowd was forming.

"What's happening?" I demanded of a silver-haired woman. She looked at me, eyes wide in fear.

"The brown-haired boy who saved us...he chased after the monster dressed in black."

"A monster dressed in black?" I repeated, looking up. And froze in shock.

One of the mural windows that graced the walls of the Church, the ones cut out of enchanted jewels and said to be able to withstand thousands of years in war had cracked completely and given way to a huge gaping hole, the only proof of it having been there in the first place being the jagged pieces of jewel that pointed to the gaping black circle, reminiscent of a makeshift frame. And from the hole came twin rays of light; one blue as the sky itself and one red as blood.

"Teito...Teito's in there?"

As if to answer me, the lights flared brightly for a moment, before burning out completely. Even from all the way down here, I could hear the dying hiss of Zaiphon fire. I pushed my way through the crowd towards the spot closest to the broken window, shouting the boy's name all the while until my own ears had gone deaf to the sound around me.

My mind had one single objective: Find Teito and make sure he was safe.

And for once, my heart couldn't agree more with it.

_**Hakuren!** _

I jumped about a foot into the air when the voice spoke again. My feet halted, my body swayed uncertainly with the momentum, but held in place.

_Not-Teito, is that you?_

_**What are you doing, Oak? Get the hell away from here before I-!** _

_What are you making Teito do, you-?_

A wordless exclamation shot through my mind before his answer was cut off abruptly.

_Not-Teito? Are you there? Answer me, damn it!_

_**"Die."** _

That single word uttered in the coldest, most heartless voice I'd ever had the misfortune to hear echoed through the mind-link. I could practically feel Teito's body tensing up, the steady rush of adrenaline through my lungs and limbs...

And a stabbing pain in my chest that ate away at my heart.

The screaming brought me back to the present and drew my eyes upward.

And my time stood still for a second that lasted an eternity.

Bright red Zaiphon flashed against blue sky, surrounding a human figure dressed in black and gold, tightening around his form as if lassoeing the single, skeletal Kor wings that flared from its back tightly to the body. From here, I could see the face of the Kor; hair a dusty-yellow colour and eyes golden like topaz stone. But it wasn't his face that held my eye, it was what he was doing.

In his hands was a deep-blue shard as long as his arm, tinged at the tip with blood. Right before the eyes of the horrified Churchgoers, he stabbed the shard right into the heart of the boy who fell with him.

A boy wearing white Church robes with a guitar slung on his back.

" _Teito!_ "

Teito sank through the air like a stone and fell straight into the water canals flowing through the marble, staining the blue with more damned ruby red. The boy-Kor had landed lightly on the platform nearest to the area, blocking the spot Teito sank from my view.

"Get up." It was the same voice, not that I ever doubted for a second that it wasn't. The creature who attacked Not-Teito.

Not-Teito who might still have control over my friend's body even as I watched on in horror. And I knew exactly what the unearthly presence was capable of, especially in Teito Klein's body.

But...

_But..._

Damn it all!

I was about to break into a run when I heard it. A sound I'd heard only once before.

The tone of crystal striking crystal echoed through the air, whispering notes of music that blended and melded into a soft song. The wistful tones were somehow strong and faint at the same time and I could feel goosebumps erupting over my suddenly chilled skin as the notes in the air struck at my heart.

The crimson-tainted surface rippled at the centre and parted, revealing a crescent-shaped gap into which the blood-stained water flowed. As I looked on, astonished, a single hand rose from the pit, fingers stretching towards the sky, the back of the palm facing where I stood.

I wasn't even standing close to him when it happened, close to the amazing phenomenon that occured right before my disbelieving eyes. I shouldn't even have seen it.

But I did, and I recognized that particular shade of blue long before gasps of awe rose from the crowd.

Buried right in the middle of the upraised palm was a deep-blue gemstone.

The Eye of Raphael.

Another arm joined the first, this one gripping the edge of the pit of water with slender fingers. My eyes tore away from the first arm and looked at the second.

And I recoiled.

_How...? That's not possible!_

But it still shone there, as bright as the blood that drained from the fountain. Sitting at the back of the palm, right in the centre, shone a bright red stone, circular, glossy and perfect in craftsmanship. An identical twin to the Eye that shone in Teito's left palm

An Eye which was supposed to have been destroyed a thousand years ago.

The Eye of Mikha-

The right hand tightened. That was the only warning we had before a spray of water shot out of the pit with enough force to knock down a brick wall. The ground trembled and several people in the crowd fell over. I gritted my teeth and held on by sheer instinct, eyes never leaving the source of the geyser and the boy below.

"Teito!" I shouted, "Teito! Answer me, God damn it!"

The spray of water calmed, but the droplets hung protectively in the air, like mist, blocking the view of the battle like a glass wall. And from beyond the wall came a horrifying scream in a voice I could barely recognize as Teito's.

Teito!  
My feet broke into a run while my brain stood at a standstill. My hands shot out, touching the wall of water first. It was fluid and parted easily at my touch, caressing it in a cold, icy embrace. I ran through the wall without a second thought, feeling the coolness on my skin for only a minute before I broke through. "Teito!"

My right foot suddenly stepped on thin air and I drew back, realizing I'd reached the edge of the platform. I looked up just in time to see the sun start to break through the additional mist of water that hung in the air to shine onto the scene like a heaven-made spotlight.

Teito was staring at the boy-Kor with something akin to enraged horror on his face as he levitated above the surface of the water with a strange, unearthly power that agitated the air around him, ruffling my hair with the power-filled wind. A continuous ring of Zaiphon surrounded the Eye on each of his palms, binding them to him in a sort of makeshift restraint. Where his feet touched the water, that strange crystal tone struck again, but it was lost in the void of his screams.

The boy-Kor didn't seem to notice I had broken through, just staring at the shorter boy coolly as he continued shouting in a sort of animal rage. As I stared more at him, I noticed that something seemed to be off about him. His presence didn't feel like that of an ordinary Kor's...

_**Stop it!** _

The sudden mental shout was unexpected and the sharp shard of pain that made me keel over. I caught myself just before I fell, eyes flying to Teito of their own accord.

He was bent over, teeth clenched, hands gripping his sides as if the incredible power coursing through his body was causing him physical pain. He looked at the boy-Kor with unfettered rage, the unnatural wind around him growing stronger from his hate.

_**Stop it, stop it, stop it...!** _

He raised his arms and gasped as the power surged through him again, concentrating in his fingers. He seperated his hands in a graceful, sweeping motion and light crackled from his fingertips, filling the gap between his hands. The light flashed and narrowed, finally solidifying into a steel spear that looked eerily like the Bascules of the Church. Yet the energy that filled it seemed so much more powerful, something that no human could possibly control.

He brought the spear down to waist-level and dashed towards the boy with lightening speed, blue and red energy crackling in his wake.

Barely a few inches from the boy's face, though, he smirked and hopped out of the way. Teito kept dashing in the same straight line until his spear touched the wall of water with a terrible, hissing sound.  
But my gaze had long left Teito and was now following the strange boy-Kor. When he dodged out of the way of Teito's attack, he'd briefly shown his other side to me, kicking the nagging suspicion I'd had about him into overdrive.

The boy had only one Kor wing on his left side. The right side was completely human.

My revelation was interrupted by another cry through our mind-link, one that had my full attention almost immediately. The voice that was on the other end wasn't screaming in anger or speaking with a calm that unsettled me to the bone.

The voice...his voice was soft. Sounded like he was close to tears.

_**Give him back to me...I'm begging you...** _

"Teito...?"

"It's useless." The boy-Kor said coldly.

An elastic-like sound of threads through air and the feeling of warm wetness on my cheek. I looked to my side to see golden threads slice cut through the air and head straight towards my friend.

I pulled out my Bascules from the inside of my left sleeve and drew on my own Zaiphon energy, feeling the blue lightning sting at my fingertips. To hell with this!

To hell with Teito suffering alone anymore!

I breathed out automatically, pushing my anger to the side and focusing on the flow of energy through me.

_Concentrate._

I attached the Bascules on my right arm, fingers tightening the clasps as fast as I could. Even while I did so, I could already feel the Zaiphon flow through and start crystallizing into an energy orb at the topmost rod.

_I made it my mission to eradicate darkness and protect the light._

Teito dodged the gold threads with supernatural speed, hissing when one of them scraped the side of his neck. He dashed backwards several paces on the water surface, creating a grating sound of shattering crystal, fisting his hands in a swift, powerful motion. His Zaiphon rose through his body heatedly, but before Teito could even do so much as gesture at the Kor, the Kor flicked his wrist and called upon the golden threads at his command. They sneaked up behind Teito, they took him unawares...

_**No! Stop him, Oak!** _

And they lassoed around Teito, tightening their grip as he thrashed against them. The Zaiphon flow was stopped as soon as they touched his skin, and they continued tightening more and more around the boy as he gasped and fought hard against them, calling upon every ounce of strength he had to break through... _ **  
**_

"Darkness, be gone!"

I threw my whole being into that Zaiphon shot, aimed directly at the Kor's wing.

And he stopped it with just a flick of his fingers, the gold threads biting at the energy orb and pulling it to pieces before my eyes.

"Resistance is futile." And he looked up directly at me.

I gasped as more golden ropes shot from his fingertips and latched around me, cutting at my arms, waist, back and neck, drawing deep gashes into my skin wherever they touched.

"You...!" I tried aiming the Bascules at him again, but sensing my motive, he waved his hand in response and with unimaginable speed, the gold threads raced through the air and cut at my wrist, tearing both the leather clasps and my flesh apart.

"Your efforts will not be enough to spare him. He's committed a sin beyond the redemption of even the Chief of Heaven." The Kor told me, as he tightened the damned gold threads around me. They pressed all around me, a stifling discomfort laced with pain, seemingly lodging themselves in my heart and lungs, seemingly slowing them down, until I felt like I was literally fighting for each beat, each breath...

 _I'm going to die._ The horrifying revelation struck me out of nowhere and my body kicked, thrashed and pulled at the bindings that trapped me, while my mind ticked away the seconds I'd been trapped, each thought growing more desperate the longer I stayed in this accursed web of gold...

_Someone...Anyone!_

Help me...!

The gold threads cut deeper into my neck and wrists and more of the warm wetness trickled down my flesh. Strange. The more of it that I felt, the less that I could feel anything, only aware of my breathing, the volume of air growing lesser and lesser with each movement of my lungs and heart...

And suddenly the threads slackened and I was sent sprawling down to the platform.

I didn't feel the dull impact, but what I did feel was the faint cool of the marble. As if it had been a trigger of some sort for my body, my arms pushed me onto my knees and almost pushed me upright, but my legs didn't have the strength to keep up and I sank to the floor again. Cursing my weakness, I looked towards where my friend was.

Teito was no longer bound by the threads. And neither had he been completely freed, like me.

He was being cradled in thin, but surprisingly strong arms that surged with red Zaiphon, incredibly potent and amazingly powerful, which meant that the owner of those arms was angry as hell.

And that anger was barely contained in crimson-red eyes, pupils slitted like a wild cat's and mouth twisted to reveal clenched teeth.

The anger that was barely contained in a face I knew better than my own.

A face that mirrored the one my friend...the one I trusted wore.

The mirrored form of Teito Klein snarled at the boy-Kor in the voice I'd come to recognize over the past two months, a voice drenched in hellfire.

_"Don't you dare lay a hand on my master!"_

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

**Author's Notes:**

**[1] Sklave excerpts: All completely made up by me and have no relation whatsoever to the official storyline.**

**[2] Varying meanings of the verses: To be honest, I keep finding varied translations of the verses both in the manga and the anime and for the life of me I can't figure out which is the correct one, so I've used the explanation that the Bible was written in the old tongue and therefore has varied meanings.**


	15. Questioned

Ante Mortem   
  


Chapter 14: Questioned   
  


Labrador:   
  


_**Ominous is the wind that blows across the sacred land.** _

Thoughts keep dancing around in my mind.

_**Be careful, be careful, the leaves are falling.** _

Thoughts that did not belong to me.

_**The sun hides beyond the clouds.** _

Thoughts that were never mine.

Hushed voices spoke in my head, each one different,  _unique,_ with their one tone and tenor. And, as I'd come to learn over the first few months since I'd first started...'hearing' them, they each had their own personality.

The sweet ones spoke of the rain and the sun, talking to me about the weather and advising me of the cold and hot winds that blew my way.

The gruff ones spoke solemnly of approaching omens, good and bad, often using objects of nature as symbols of prediction.

The sour ones spoke of days gone past, of the grievous agony of Nature as she suffered for her beloved child, Man's advances, their evolution, their attempts at progress.

And finally, the wistful ones, the lonely ones, they simply made conversation with me. They were curious, about me, my life, the people around me and the things that made me the person I am. I didn't understand why, back in those days, but...I didn't feel the need to question them. I answered them, all of them, as naturally as they had first come to me.

Yes, there were voices in the back of my head. And in light of the events that had occurred, it wasn't even that unsettling anymore, especially since I knew more about them now; the fact that the plants I'd loved and continually talked to as a child now talked back to me, protecting me with predictions of what was to come, it made me happy. Nothing more, nothing less. Just happy.

It was supposed to be strange, but it felt so  _natural._ Like my being and self had been created for the sole purpose of conversing with plants. By an almost cruel irony, I did find out later that that had been exactly the case.

But I was still happy. No matter where I was, where I went, I was never  _alone_.

Rarely did a day go by without a prediction from the flowers.

But just as rare was the day when the flowers, all of them, agreed on one certain prediction. With the diversity in their behaviour, almost as varied as the types of flowers in the land themselves, it was almost impossible for them to agree on one subject.

It seemed though that the impossible happened far more than usual these days.

_**They come.** _

_**They are coming.** _

_**Poison through blood.** _

_**Evil taints the land.** _

_**Cold chill.** _

_**Beloved sons, betrayed children.** _

They spoke all at once. Different words, same meaning.

 _This evil that taints the land..._ I questioned carefully, as their voices faded and a modicum of silence spread through my mind,  _It comes from Man? The darkness within him or...?_

At this point, the flowers literally  _shook._ I could feel their vines tremble, even as their voices, stronger than ever, intoned as one, a single sentence,  _ **He has already come.**_

Pictures flashed across my eyes. I blinked automatically, a ghost reflex to adjust to the bright light that existed only in my mind.

I stood in a tower. A marble tower, one of the marble towers of the Church. I recognized it as the same marble tower where Lazette had played the organ during the festival of the Angel's Eye. The sun shone relentlessly on me, its heat biting at my exposed face.

But even warmer, even brighter than the sun that shone bright in the sky was the fire that ate away at the buildings of the town below.

Thick through the air and mixed with the smoke were the screams of the townspeople and their cries were echoed by those of a kind which I have encountered more times than I could count.

"K-!" The shout had come unbidden to my lips and I quickly stopped myself before I could speak.  _If I speak, I break the spell._ I knew of this from...personal experience. One that I would rather forget.

I took a deep breath and focused harder on the vision. The blue in the sky before me flickered to black for a split second before it changed back to blue again.

Below, the flames shuddered, then appeared to recede before shooting upwards, their golden colour fading to sinister black as they reached the sky. They shifted and formed arrow-like projectiles that spread in the sky, until it formed a smoke ring around the town.  
The Kor rejoiced, crying obscenities mixed with words of victory as I could see a single man rise up into the air. The shadow ring fluttered, then shifted with his movement. And once he was on level with the ring of smoke, it undulated and shot towards him, covering him in a cocoon of grey.

_**He lives.** _

_**Each minute he breathes, he condemns humanity to the depths of suffering.** _

White light flooded my vision, much more gentle than that of the sun that shone upon me. I blinked and the scenery around me changed.

Marble pillars and coloured mural windows told me that I was standing inside the Church.

The blood that covered the pews in cold red told me I was standing in a battlefield.

The Church was covered in darkness, but the hallways were illuminated by the light from outside. Only instead of the burning gold of the sun, there came blood-red rays of light that leached the colours of everything they touched; even the normal white of the marble took on a sickly, bland tone.

A crunch sound from underneath my foot made me look down. I'd stepped on shards of broken glass.

No...wait. Not glass.

Crystal?

I bent down, on my knees and carefully picked up one of the crystal pieces. Tiny, shaped into a perfect diamond and when it caught the red light, it glittered eerily, but just as brilliantly as it would in natural light.

 _These crystal pieces...I've never seen them before, but they feel familiar to me._ I turned it around in the light, watching as the light illuminated the numerous tiny facets of the crystal piece.

I looked back up.

I wasn't standing in the bloodied room anymore. Instead, I was standing in the Sanctuary room of the Church.

Or what was left of it.

Each mural window of the room had completely shattered through, showing me a view of the night sky outside, where a blood-red crescent moon hung in the middle. The pews weren't decked in blood here; they weren't even in the room. Instead, there was a large black onyx table present right in the centre of the room.

But the most noticeable difference was the large cross that usually hung on the far wall. It was now on the floor, where two of the arms had snapped off and lay awkwardly next to it. Trails of crystal pieces bled from the broken arms and created a circular pattern around the body.

I walked up to the cross and knelt next to it. This close, I could see the tiny crystals that constituted the enormous cross, all of them cut and polished by hand, designed to catch the light of the sun and reflect different colours of the rainbow depending on the angle.

I gently placed the crystal piece into a gaping hole near the centre of the cross. On impact with my piece, the entire cross shuddered and made a hideous screeching sound. Before my eyes, a gaping crack appeared at the place I'd kept the piece which spread further and further until it created a lightning-shaped crevice on it. With another screech, an invisible force tore the cross apart through the crack and it dissipated into dust.

_**Beware, sweet child of Heaven's Chief.** _

The dust was on my hands, on my robes. I tried to brush it off and noticed I wasn't wearing my gloves anymore. That strange mark that changed me forever glinted blood-red on my wrist. **[1]**  I felt a sharp shard of pain below the mark and I pulled down the sleeves of my robes to see golden threads tied across my forearm.

I simply watched as it cut further, deeper into my skin, deeper until it drew blood. It pulsed and glowed when it touched my blood.

It was living. Breathing.

It was also tied to something else.

_**This fate awaits you if you fail.** _

_Don't._ I whispered. I could already feel the paranoia rise in the back of my mind, threatening to disrupt the vision.  _Don't show it.  
_

 _ **...I'm sorry.**_ A single voice, scared and child-like whispered the words.

I was now surrounded by black. Darkness. I could see nothing except black. I could hear nothing except my breathing. I could feel nothing except the beating of my heart. And even those sensations seemed to be swallowed up by this darkness.

I looked at the golden thread that was attached to me. And the thing that it was attached to.

No. Not thing.

Person.

Friend.

Bloodied.

Broken.

Friend.

"Castor..."

And the vision, the dream, the nightmare was no more.

I opened my eyes. The sun was still there, still high up in the sky, but the slow winds that gently blew across the gardens brought the faintest breath of winter. Slowly, I brought my arms up to eye level and removed my bishop's hat. As if on cue, the wind picked up with renewed intensity, ruffling through the grass and the vines that crawled through it.

"What time is it?" I murmured, looking around.

"2:30 in the afternoon, Bishop Labrador."

The voice had spoken in a calm, gentle tone to avoid shocking me out of my semi-sleep. I could feel the flowers whisper nervously among themselves.

 _It's alright._ I reassured them,  _It's a friend. It's...He's..._

"Ouida-kun."

From the corner of my eye, I could see the boy respectfully nod his head towards me. He made no attempt to move from his spot, instead speaking from where he stood on the pathway, "I didn't mean to disturb you, Labrador-sama. I just came here for a walk after study hour. I'll just be on my way out."

"No, no."  _I don't mind. I don't mind if you..._ "stay here."

Ouida simply waved a hand, "It's alright, Bishop Labrador. I was about to go look for Liam anyway. Sorry for intruding."

 _Ok._ "Take care. And good luck..."  _For your exams._

"I will. Thank you." And he departed, just as silently as he had come.

As soon as Ouida had left, the flowers started an uproar again, chattering to me in scared, excited voices of nonsensical words with more sinister meanings hidden so deep that it would be madness to try to unravel them.

Madness for anyone else, anyway. But I had more than a lifetime's experience of talking to them. And in that time, I'd learnt that it wasn't what the flowers  _said_ that was of great importance, it was  _how_ they said it.

The deciphering process itself took hours. Days. Months.

 _Two months in and still..._ "I'm no closer to finding the one who's doing this than I was when Teito-kun arrived."

_**Innocent?** _

I blinked; I hadn't even noticed that the flowers had quietened down again, listening to my contemplations.

I stared at the deep green vines. But they knew as well as I that I was not thinking of an answer. I knew it, clear as day.

 _Teito Klein is_ "innocent. Regardless of whether or"  _not he lies about his amnesia, the darkness that haunts him is not his own._ "But why?" I asked, feeling that familiar frustration burn at the back of my mind, "Why would the Kor"  _haunt the boy as they have not haunted any living being for_ "centuries?"

_**He knows.** _

I frowned. "He"  _knows?_

_**He knows why. He is the cause.** _

_**He is the cause of the deaths of the ones you care for.** _

"Teito?" I could feel my mouth forming the name as a question, but even in the deathly quiet-both in my mind and outside of it-I didn't hear myself asking it. And whatever reply the flowers would have given me-a story, a single word or stony silence-was lost as I felt a distinct icy shard of cold settle in the back of my neck, breaking the half-trance I'd been under.

" _ **Labrador!"**_

That was not the voice of a flower.

_Castor?_

And the world around me exploded in a shower of glass and dust.

The blue sky was suddenly filled with sediments of the ripped earth and the screams that filled the air were overshadowed, drowned out by the cry of something I'd learnt to dread as early as the time I'd started talking to plants. As early as the time I'd started to learn that all in this world was not as it seems.

"Attacking the holy grounds of God. They really have forgotten where their boundaries are."

"Lance."

The head examiner stared at the Kor-filled skies with a mixture of anger and disgust.

"You were expecting this." I continued. His eyes took on a more guarded sheen, contradictory to the relaxed, expressive emotions that he usually showed among the other Church people.

"And you weren't?" He asked.

"Not until five minutes ago." I said, "And I know what else will happen if we do not do something to stop this invasion."

Lance nodded grimly, "I'll keep an eye on this side of the Church, to make sure the plants are unharmed. Go to Castor."

I nodded and set off back towards the Church.  _Flowers, do you sense any more darkness in this area?  
_

_**Black...** _

_**Terrifying...** _

_**Tainted.** _

_I'll take that as a yes._ Although Lance was right; these Kor really have overstepped their boundaries. But why? Why would they attack now, when the Church is on full alert? When we are expecting another attack and when we have the means to defend ourselves against it?

_A diversion._

The realization hit me as hard, and those two simple words started a whole string of thoughts that raced through my mind at lightning speed.

_What if...this attack was a diversion for something else?_

_But what?_ I wondered, as my eyes searched the skies for something other than humans possessing skeletal wings,  _What or who could even consider joining forces with a Kor to attack the Church? And to what end?_

 _...A Warsphile?_ It wasn't impossible, yet I hadn't felt the need to use this term for a long time. With good reason. The practice of dark arts had been banned in the Empire ever since the Fall of Justice. Most people did not even think to dare break that ban because of what they would lose in the process.

Heart.

Soul.

Body.

It seemed extremely foolish and reckless to give up everything they were in exchange for the wish of a power they could not control.

_But why would a Warsphile attack now? What would they stand to gain from blatantly attacking the Church like this?_

_**Teito Klein.** _

Those words left a cold afterthought in my mind, as the flowers answered my speculation for me with absolutely no hesitation. My feet slowed down and stopped completely.

_Teito Klein? The ones after him...are Warsphiles?!_

No answer.

I could feel the frustration threatening to surface from the back of my mind. I stilled my thoughts and took a few calming breaths, pushing back my emotions behind the walls of my consciousness. If I was shaken by any emotion, the flowers would be similarly agitated and then, it would be almost impossible for them to show me any images that would help us all.

 _All right then. If it's Teito Klein they're after, a boy that was granted the Sanctuary of this Church,_ I thought grimly,  _As those who guard the lives behind these walls, we have to stop them._

The flowers' whispers grew louder and louder, drowning out the restless thoughts in my mind one by one. Until all that remained was the loud, painful ache in my temples as they worked themselves up in a frenzied chattering and a strange calm that settled over me as I kept listening to the same meaningless chatter.

As if they'd never stopped, my feet took off in a run. I could feel the rush of the blood in my veins, burning with the same freezing cold I allowed myself to rarely feel.

 _No._ I thought, pushing the instinct back down,  _It's not the right time._

The air that was my exhaled breath was cooler than it should have been, but the change had halted there. I barely felt a rush of relief before a wave of fear crashed down on me, almost making me stumble.

_What kind of dark creature had infiltrated the Church to make my blood react so strongly?_

_**"Labrador!"** _

_Castor!_ My mental shout was loud enough to still the whispering of the plants,  _Castor, is that you?_

_**"Yes, it is!"** _

_Oh thank goodness! Where are you now?  
_

" _ **I'm in the west wing of the Church! Come quick! Teito-kun's being attacked!"**_

 _I know! I'm on my way there!_ West wing of the Church...I have to take a right turn here and-!

_**Labrador.** _

The flowers had started whispering again, whispering among themselves. But this time, I could hear every word that was being said.

Because they kept repeating one single word, at the same time, with the same volume and with the same grave tone.

My name.

_**Labrador.** _

And suddenly I wasn't running in the corridors anymore.

I was standing outside, near the fountain. Lazette's fountain.

But the young Noel mermaid wasn't there. Instead, what stood there was a young boy with straw-golden hair. He wore a black military jacket over his shoulders, which barely cloaked the large, skeletal wing that protruded from his left shoulder.

 _Wing,_ not  _wings._

...What in the world...?

_**Someone...Anyone...!** _

Blood was dripping down the boy's gloved fingers. Blood that was not his. Blood from the broken body of a young, brown-haired boy who weakly gripped at the teen's shoulders, an expression of desperation in his eyes.

_Teito?_

No, that voice wasn't Teito's.

_**Help me...!** _

_**"That voice belongs to Hakuren Oak."**_ Castor's voice sounded in my mind, breaking through the vision. And as suddenly as it had come, the vision broke, leaving me standing in the middle of the Church corridor.

_**"The last I saw of him, he was talking to Teito-kun in the corridor near the fountain."** _

_What happened to him, Castor?_

_**"I don't know! I just told you, I left him in the corridor when-"** _

_You know very well I speak of Teito-kun, Castor._

_**"Teito-kun?"** _

_Castor! Please, don't try to feign ignorance! You confronted Teito-kun, didn't you? You confronted him about Frau!_ When he didn't answer, I pressed on,  _I told you to leave them be! Frau is more than capable of guarding his secret; he's been doing that far longer than you or I!_ **[2]**

_**"It's not the issue of whether that idiot can keep his own secret or not."** _

I frowned,  _What do you mean?_

_**"...This is neither the time nor the place to discuss such things, Labrador."** _

_We have to talk about this, Castor. We must talk about this at some point._

_**"And we will. But not...not now. We have to focus on the task at hand."** _

_...Fine._ I'd barely projected the words from my mind when he severed the connection.  _As brusque as always._ I sighed.

I was close to the fountain now. But therein posed another problem.

Crowd upon crowd of people stood in front of me, spread out wide and thick like a second barrier. They were talking among themselves in hushed voices, but I could still hear what they were saying.

"What was that thing?! That monster?!"

"What sacrilegious behaviour! To vandalise the Church so!"

"That was so scary!"

"Has anyone seen my sister?!"

"Will those boys be alright? The acolyte and the Fyulong rider?"

_Fyulong rider? Wait a minute!_

"Excuse me!" I called out to woman dressed in yellow, as I hurried to her, "Excuse me! Have you seen where those boys went?"

"They...they went over there." She said fearfully, pointing to where the fountain stood. Or where it  _usually_ stood. A curtain of rushing water rose upwards in a geyser-like manner from between the marble platforms, which joined in a dome formation a few metres from the top. Even with the tremendous roar the makeshift waterfall barrier was making, I could just make out a boy's voice talking furiously.

"Alright then. Please be safe."

I stood a few feet away from the waterfall barrier and pulled off the glove from my left hand. Carefully, I skimmed the surface with my bare fingers.

"Ngh!" I pulled it away quickly. The water was boiling hot. And even if the temperature wasn't a problem, the water was still rushing too fast to even try to break through, and would prove fatal to the flowers if I'd asked them to help me. I'd barely pondered this thought, when a black shape moved in the edge of my vision. Before I could turn and look, it hurtled past me at an unnatural speed and disappeared through the barrier.

 _ **"But it's possible for a plastic doll to break through."**_ Castor said smoothly, as he stood beside me. And sure enough, barely a few seconds after the doll had broken through, the water had slowed to a growling hiss and finally froze in mid-air, before falling back to earth.

A fitting curtain for a scene as unnatural as the one it had revealed.

The first thing I'd noticed was the Kor. He was the same boy I'd seen in my vision, with only one skeletal wing on the left shoulder. Wisps of golden thread dangled from his fingertips, shivering in a wind that did not exist and glinting with a dangerous dull lustre.

"Let him go!" A shout tore my gaze away from the strange boy-Kor and I saw Hakuren-kun on his knees a short distance away. His breath was shallow, his eyes glazed over and his clothes splattered with blood, yet the tone of his voice was incredibly steady.

But it wasn't the boy-Kor he was looking at.

It was Teito-kun. Teito-kun, whose bleeding, crumpled body lay in the arms of-

"Teito-kun...there are two of them?" Castor's strained whisper confirmed what I was seeing. Teito-kun...the one who was holding the bleeding body identical to his own looked at us then, a sneer twisting up his lips.

"Late as usual."

"You don't seem unduly concerned with this situation." The boy-Kor said finally, staring at the Teito-look-alikes coolly.

"That's because I know you cannot actually do anything. Your hands are tied."

"Not for long." The golden threads that had lain slack at the boy-Kor's fingertips tightened again. A sharp gasp drew my eye back to Hakuren again, who was clutching at his throat. From between his scrabbling fingers and on his wrists as well, the sheen of gold glinted menacingly.

A bright flash of red light and Hakuren fell back on his knees, gasping.

"I will say this only once." Teito(?) said, his voice dangerously low, "I can care less for all the other rubble of this Church. But if you lay a single finger on my master, if you hurt him in any single way, I will personally make sure your unnatural, blighted presence is completely erased from this world. And," Another sneer, although this time, it had a darker, more menacing effect than when it was turned on us, "I cannot promise that it would be devoid of pain or blood."

"You always have had such a bad temperament." The boy-Kor smirked, "It's been a long time since we've last met; can't you display a sense of courtesy towards me?"

"I'll acknowledge you when you drown in your own blood. Leave.  _Now._ "

The boy-Kor shrugged easily, "I was planning on doing that. Such trivial affairs do not interest me."

"Trivial affairs...? What were you after?" The boy asked, "Why did you come here?"

The boy-Kor didn't reply. He simply spun around on his heel, his wing flaring upwards and outwards, in preparation for flight.

"It's useless to try and run." The Teito-lookalike snarled, "I'll hunt you down to the ends of all 7 Districts if I have to, but stay and answer my question, scum of the-"

"No." The boy suddenly froze, as his sentence was cut off by a voice dulled by pain and suffering.

A voice that sounded incredibly familiar.

"Teito!" The cry came from Hakuren-kun. His eyes were half-lidded, the gaze of an awake dreamer, drenched in life blood. His breathing came out ragged even as his tone remained steady, "Teito! Are you alright?!  _Teito!"_

The young boy that sprawled in his impostor's arms-or was it the other way around? I couldn't tell, but Hakuren thought that the broken young boy was his friend, not the one that protected him-paid no heed to his words. Even though he was about as desperate as Hakuren-kun was.

Although for an entirely different reason.

"Don't go!"

The Kor went still, the edge of his wing turning upward slightly. His hands curled into fists at his sides.

"And tell that master of yours," the boy-Kor continued, as if their conversation had never been interrupted, "to keep his nose away from things that do not concern him."

Teito-the one that had been fighting the Kor-growled at him, "The same could be said to you!"

The Kor smiled again.

"'The same could be said for me?'" He repeated, his voice in a mockingly sweet tone that dripped malice, "But I'm his best friend! Aren't I,  _daishinyu?_ "  **[3]**

The broken Teito's body visibly jerked. His eyes hardened, his mouth curled into a snarl.

"He doesn't have anything to do with this!" He shouted, even as his body visibly twisted in pain, "Ggh...Let him go! It's me you want, isn't it?!"

"...So you  _do_ remember him." The boy-Kor finally said, his smile darkening, "But then again, it would be highly unlikely that you'd forgotten him completely. He meant too much to you, after all."

"Is that why you're doing this?" Teito whispered, "Because you want to get to me?"

"Do not flatter yourself." The boy-Kor said grimly, all traces of child-like innocence gone now, "This war is fought not for the life of one teenage amnesiac."

"Then  _why_?!" Teito yelled, "Why are you doing this to him?!  _What has Mikage done to deserve this?!_ "

"He became friends with you."

Teito visibly flinched at that, the colour from his cheeks fading as the Kor's words reached his mind.

"His sin was loving you. Caring about you. The boy that committed an unforgivable sin..."

 _"...was the boy who cared about a sinner._ " Teito interrupted. His face was bone-white now, his eyes glittering wildly like demented jade in his face and his breathing was hurried.

"I am not the one who killed Mikage. You did."

"Shut up!" Teito shouted, writhing fiercely in the other Teito's arms. He raised his hands to his ears, clasping them fiercely on his face, even as they dribbled blood down his cheeks.

"You led him to me, like a lamb to slaughter."

"I didn't!"

"You selfishly kept him by your side and in doing so, signed his death warrant."

"I didn't! I didn't, I didn't!  _I wasn't the one who killed Mikage!_  You were! You were, you're still possessing his body!" Teito hissed, repeating the words over and over, as if to convince himself.

"You promised yourself only to me. Or have you conveniently forgotten that fact, child of spilt blood?"

"I said  _stop_ , you son of a-!" Teito's voice cracked on the last word, before the rest of his sentence was drowned in an ear-splitting keen of pain and he collapsed in the other Teito's arms.

_Teito-kun! What's wrong with Teito-kun now...?!_

"He's fine." Castor said, and I'd realized that I'd spoken the thoughts aloud. I turned to look at him, "...Castor?"

"I can see the threads of his life. Still uncut and attached to the body." He said, his tone calm, "Labrador, can you see any immediate future in which Teito-kun...?"

"He doesn't die." I reply firmly. I didn't need to listen to what the plants were saying now. In fact, they weren't even saying anything. They remained quiet as they...'watched' the scene through my eyes. In the back of my mind, I could feel a kind of detached horror rise in me whenever I looked at the Kor, a horror that had nothing to do with me.

"Teito-kun will not die. But we need to get out of this situation as quickly as possible." I said firmly, as I looked back at the scene before me, "Even if the threat posed to Teito-kun isn't fatal, it isn't advisable for him to remain exposed to the K-...Mikage-kun much long."

"How do we do that?" The question came not from Castor, but from right behind me.

"Hakuren-kun!" Shock seeped into Castor's tone as he looked at the boy, "Hakuren-kun, you're injured badly. I don't think it's wise to move right now..."

"I'm fine." Hakuren snapped. He slipped his bleeding wrists under his already-bloody robes, fingers clutching at his pocket-sized Bascules, "Teito's the one who needs you both right now, not me."

Castor stared at him for a moment, then nodded abruptly. "Very well. As for how to escape from this situation unscathed, Teito-kun especially...well, it would be easier if we knew the creature...creature _s_ that we're dealing with."  
"Not-Teito is on our side."

"Not-Teito?" I looked in askance at Hakuren, who continued, "...It's a long story. At any rate, he isn't someone we need to be concerned about, seeing as he's more worried about Teito than any of us."

"But you cannot say the same for the Kor boy."

"No."

"Don't attack him."

That reply came from Not-Teito. He continued his stare-down with the boy-Kor as he talked, "He does not pose a threat to you, nor is he truly threatening young master's life. For the time being at any rate."  
"I did not realize possessing people's bodies automatically made you a mind-reader, Mockingbird."

Not-Teito smirked, "One does pick up a lot of tricks when one has been damned to live in Hell. However, mind-reading is not one of them. I say you will not harm my master, only because you do not stand to gain anything from killing him."

"And what would I gain from letting him live then?"

"You," Not-Teito said replied, almost whispering the words, "would gain your world while destroying his. And I cannot allow his world to be destroyed."

The Kor merely curled his lip, staring at the prone, broken boy in Not-Teito's arms with a strange, fierce hunger, "But what if he wanted to make my world in return for the sacrifice of his own? No, do not answer." He continued, as Not-Teito opened his own mouth, with a furious expression, "I do not expect you to understand. But hear this." He finally looked at us all, the smirk on his face growing as he said, "Your precious Teito Klein understood the meaning of human sacrifice once. And of all the things I've seen," Something darkened the look in his eyes and that same, dark hunger lingered in the shadows of their depths, "His blood-stained face, blood that was not his own, lost in the rapture of his kill is something I would not forget in a hurry."

And with that, the skeletal Kor wing pushed back down to earth, launching the boy into the air. Before any of us could react, he'd already disappeared into the fierce bright blue.

"Teito!" Hakuren was about to go over to his friend, but was spared the effort when Not-Teito floated down next to him.

"Be at ease. Master is safe." He said, carefully adjusting his arms to give more support to Teito's head as he spoke, "The wounds on his neck and wrists are superficial. With proper treatment, he will be fine." He looked at Hakuren and continued, "You are in more need of intensive care than him, Oak child."  
"I'm fine." Hakuren hissed, even as he raised his bloodied hands to his even bloodier neck, "I'll feel like I've been dragged along the spine of a 40-foot long Fyulong dragon and breathed fire on afterwards, but it's nothing compared to what Teito's going through."

Not-Teito simply stared at him. Finally he knelt down and laid Teito carefully down on the ground, then stood up. Staring some more at Hakuren, he poked the boy square in the chest.

"You're annoying." He said, and much to our amazement, his tone sounded incredibly child-like. And was that a pout on his face...?

Hakuren barely had time to frown at the being, before his face froze and his limp body fell to the floor.

"Hakuren-kun?!"

"But you truly care for master, do you not?" Not-Teito continued, as he kept staring at the other boy, "Tedious as it is to tow a human child along, you may be of some use to me." He finally looked at us. "Profe, if this boy is important to you, I'd advise you to stop the flow of his lifeblood."

"Already on it, Labrador." Castor answered for me. He looked towards the blonde doll, "Engel, get some bandages. I'll take care of him." He continued.  _ **"You talk to him."**_ He whispered through our mental link.

I nodded and walked towards Hakuren. I bent down and touched the child's forehead, feeling the uneasy fire that raged in the boy's soul, even as he remained unconscious, "You were lying when you said that Teito-kun was not dying."  
Not-Teito remained quiet, as I continued, "...I do not have the power to look into people's past. I suppose you know that already, if you know my true name. But I can tell from the way Hakuren-kun was reacting that he'd seen Teito-kun getting hurt. And the more you lie to him, the less chances you have of gaining his trust."

"I could care less about earning that human brat's trust." Not-Teito said affronted, "...Interesting as the boy is. All that matters to me is where my master stands in his life."

"You mean Teito-kun, don't you?"

"Who else could it be?" He said, "...Profe. I'd appreciate it greatly if you could save both their lives. And appreciate it less if you let my master die."

"Do you care for him?"

Not-Teito laughed. A bitter laugh, forced from his chest, his throat. His heart.

"Would it make me less of a sinner if I said yes?"

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Frau:   
  


_**"You're not supposed to be here."  
** _

_**"..."** _

_**"Frau, did you hear me? I said-"  
** _

"That I'm not supposed to be fucking here." I spat out, still staring at the cracks on the floor. I could feel the offended stares of the Churchgoers on me as they passed. One old woman looked like she'd wanted to yell at me for me using 'improper' language.

Let her then. She definitely wouldn't be the first.

Case in point, the guy in glasses with a fucking stick up his ass who was giving me a lecture right now.

_**"Frau. I can read your thoughts."** _

"No, you can't. That little bastard I'm currently taking care of makes it impossible for you, remember?" I said bitterly, "The best thing you can do is read my emotions. And in case you haven't noticed, you're not exactly my favourite person right now."

_**"...Why?"** _

"Do you really have to ask that?"

_**"Frau, I refuse to have this conversation with you unless you remove the shield from your mind. I know you can hear me."** _

"Get back to work on saving the kid's life and leave me the fuck alone." Surprisingly, he'd stopped bugging me the moment I'd said the words. I couldn't say I appreciated the gesture though. I stared harder at the wall, concentrating on the bland white colour and feeling the thoughts fade away,

Of course, that didn't wipe away the look on the kid's face that I'd had stuck in my mind ever since last night's...visit.

 _Be a fucking man and own up, Frau._ A voice inside his head seethed,  _You attacked him. You attacked a helpless brat and tried to suck the soul out of his body. When he was still_ alive.

_You tried to kill him._

_"Bastien-!"_

You wanted to kill him.

_"Bastien-sama! No!"_

You wanted to hear his dying screams when you killed him. Just like last time.

_"Frau? Frau, what are you doing here?"_

_"...W-Why are you covered in blood?"  
_

_You were always a monster. You haven't forgotten the fact, surrounded by the 'Holy Light' of the Church, have you?_

Because no amount of praying and not one single sermon has the answer you're looking for.

_Monster._

"Shut up." I murmured tiredly, "This isn't the time for you to tell me what  _you_ are." A faint prickling at the back of my neck, down my spine as the son of a bitch chuckled, and receded from my mind, much as Castor had.  
Finally left alone.

_"I won't let go!" The brat had screamed. And he stared at the Ghost with absolutely no fear in his eyes as he continued, "I'm not going to let you go, Frau!"_

_And in the back of the Ghost's mind, where he could still feel the faint stirrings of humanity, the human Frau had asked one question._

_"Why?"_

"You look like an eye-fish right now."

The voice registered before the words did and I looked up to see the face of the boy who'd been near-death just moments before staring back at me with a half-curious, half-annoyed expression.

"I don't look like an eye-fish." Was about as much as I could get out, before another detail snapped into my mind.

"You're not Teito." Crimson eyes surveyed him carefully even as the boy gave him a careless snort.

"Caught up, have you? I'd estimated it would be longer for your level of intellect to tell the difference. However, it seems that you are the most perceptive of those who live here. May the Chief of Heaven save us all." The boy shuddered.

"You were the one who talked to me through Teito...the real one." I blinked, then glared at him, "Wait, are you possessing him right now?"

The boy snorted again, "I have other methods than body-soul possession, Zehel."

"How do you know what I am?"

"Direct as always." An annoyed frown, "I told you such a manner of questioning was liable to get you killed."

"I was already dead once. I know the feeling." I replied, staring him down, "Now, answer the question, brat."

The frown morphed into an angry scowl, one that somehow made this short, runty kid look...dangerous. "I am not a brat! And neither is my master! You will do well to remember that, Zehel, else I'll-"

"You'll what? Kill me?" I smirked, "But you can't really do that, can you? You'll be leaving your precious  _master_ defenseless."

"Don't flatter yourself." The boy hissed, "There are people stronger, wiser and definitely more powerful than you that I can enlist."

"Then why me?" I asked bitterly, "Why'd you pick me? Why'd Glasses pick me? How the hell am I supposed to protect him when I can't go through a day without once thinking about...finally,  _finally_ snapping and going on a killing rampage, just to make that fucking bastard shut up and stop talking to me?"

The boy looked at me seriously. I ran a hand through my hair and sighed, "...Forget it. Just forget I said anything, alright?"

"...But none of them are...well, you." I looked up when the kid started talking, continuing his sentence from earlier, "None of them have had such a...wide-ranging experience of dealing with soul bonds. And for some absurd reason, my master actually trusts you. He always has been too open for his own good." The boy chuckled sadly.

"So you've known him from before?"

"Yes. And no." The boy responded, the look in his eyes completely unreadable, "Next question, Zehel. I begin to tire of these games."

 _At least he's playing along. I think._ "How do you know what I am?"

"Because of what I am." The boy pointed towards his heart, "I have an innate ability to read the nature of souls, as well as being able to possess and control them. As you can very well imagine, Ghosts have quite a...different soul, mostly because of their tainted bloodline and the experience of going through death. Using these, and the unique soul that sets each of you apart, I was able to see you as Zehel, the doll-maker as Castor, and the gardener as Labrador. I have to say, I was not expecting three Ghosts in the vicinity of a single Church. No...more than three." He perked up suddenly, and for a brief moment I actually thought he was going to sniff at it, "There is one more. Far away from here, but..."

"What are you?" I interrupted flatly, "Why are you here?"

His eyes narrowed, and before I could even blink, he'd leapt across the hall, landed feet-first on my chest and pushed me down on the ground, knocking the air right out of me.

"I am a monster. Just like you." Insanity shadowed the edges of his grin, and he tightened his hold on my throat, "Let us leave it that way, shall we? I am not comfortable with discussing my nature in front of others, not even of my own kind. And though, I am, unfortunately, hesitant to take your life at the cost of my master's, I can do various other  _things_ that will leave you just healthy enough to protect him." He whispered the last few words in a child-like sing-song voice.

"I think...I can live with that." I said carefully, "But protecting Teito would be a little hard for me if I die of asphyxiation."

"I'm surprised you even know what that word means." The boy sniffed, but he did get off me anyway.

"Urgh, you and Castor must be long-lost brothers, I swear."

"Castor? Oh, you mean Fest."

"Yeah. Thing is, you don't look anything like him...kinda ruins the scenario a little. Never mind. Next question: Why do you call Teito 'master'?"

"Because he is my master." The boy replied simply.

"Yeah...I get that, but, uh, why...?"

"I choose to serve him because he has earned my loyalty. Is that not enough? Ah, but, my master is quite a beauty. Truly. Much easier on the eyes than those who have been my previous one. and to accompany that beauty is the soul of a truly pure being, the sharpest, cleverest intellect in the world-no, the universe...Zehel, you're looking like an eye-fish again."

"Wasn't aware of that." I said, resisting the urge to grin, "...Last question. Who are you?"

"I've already answered that question. Do not test my patience Zehel, else..."

"No. What I mean is...what's your name?"

The boy stared at me for a long, long while before finally saying, "...You can go ahead and see master now. Fest and Profe can't hide him from you forever. I imagine that you'd hunt them down and make them tell you, regardless of the cost of what it would bring." He added, craning his head to shoot a knowing look at me.

"...What's happened to him?"

"Something they can't hide forever. Something...that makes me worry for him." And for a brief moment, the Teito-impostor actually looked like he meant it.

I pushed him aside and almost ran towards the door, briefly hearing him mutter, "...Undignified oaf."

I rattled the handle and threw the door open.

"Time's up, doll-freak."

"Impatient as always, Frau." Castor replied calmly. Lab was a little more shaken by my sudden entrance; he'd stood up the minute the door crashed against the wall, but relaxed when he saw it was me.

"Frau...you're alright."

"Of course I am." I said, "Hard to get injured in line of fire when no-one fills you in that a  _battle_ is going on in the first place."

"There were thousands of Kor surrounding the grounds of the Church and acting none-too-subtle about forcibly trying to take people's souls away."

"You sent me far away to feed. With something in mind, something you  _knew_ that I would try to stop you from doing." I glared at him, "What were you trying to do to the brat, Glasses?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Even though you can't sense my thoughts-and I can't sense yours-I can sense what you were feeling. And right now, you're feeling-" I stopped abruptly and stared past him, at the table he was sitting near.

Strapped onto the white marble tabletop was Teito Klein. Strapped, because his bare arms and legs with cuffed to the table-top with metal clasps, with thin chains of pure steel running down his arms. I could barely see the chains though, as they were strung over jet-black tattooing that covered almost every inch of the boy's arms and legs in a detailed, clockwork-looking pattern. It ran all over the kid's limbs like toxic rashes and finally ended in the space directly the middle of the boy's chest.

Where a black Kor mark covered his skin.

"Care to explain this, Frau?"

"But that's...no way in hell is that possible!" I said, as I continued staring numbly at the kid, "I took care of the mark that the Kor gave him! I did, I took the fucking thing right out of his chest!"

"Was there even a Kor attack in the first place?" Castor inquired, eyes narrowed at me, "How strange. I haven't heard of such a thing."

"There's no way the kid could still be tainted! What the hell, Lab?!"

"It's alright. My master is fine." The other Teito said coolly as he walked inside the room. When I looked back at him, he continued, "He goes through brief stages of paralysis after he unleashes his powers. I do not know why a Kor mark forms there," he added, "but without fail, he comes out of this induced paralysis unharmed."

"But why would Teito-kun's Zaiphon induce such a violent reaction in him in the first place?" Labrador asked carefully, as he loosened the bindings on the kid's arms and legs.

"Because what master unleashed in there...t'was not Zaiphon." The boy said, "My master is blessed with as much extraordinary power as I have. No, even more. This power, it makes him invincible to the foes that stand in his way. But..."  
"He is vulnerable to the sacrificial pain his body is forced to undergo." Labrador said gravely, "He was thrashing around earlier because of the pain, wasn't he?"

The boy nodded mutely and the vulnerable, child-like look was back in his eyes again.

"Is that why they're after him? Those military bastards?" I asked.

"No. They aren't even aware of what my master could do. Well, except now." His face darkened, "What that insufferable, vindictive clod of dirt is doing in the army-and possessing a young cadet, one that was my master's friend, no doubt-I have not the slightest clue."  
"Wait a minute. Was this boy named Mikage?" I asked suddenly, feeling a memory stir at the name.

"Yes he was." The boy said, staring openly at me now.

I swore. "Shit. This is bad...they did that to the kid's friend to screw with his mind."

"Yes. I'm surprised to see that you've caught on so quickly about how they operate."

"I just know how much that boy meant to him."

_Once, only once I'd heard Teito mention his friend's name._

_And he was sobbing in my arms when he did, open and heartbroken. And all I could think about was,_ He cared about the kid. With his heart and soul.

"But the damage has been done. There is no way we can cut off the boy's wing, without severing his body-soul link. And when we do..." The boy stopped abruptly and said in a more gentle tone, "How long has my master been...in this state, Profe?"

"About a couple of hours."

"Then he should wake up after 5." He said, "His periods of sleep have never been longer than 7 hours total."

"Ok. Thank you very much."

"How's Hakuren doing?" I asked. I'd heard that Teito wasn't the only one who'd been injured in that fight. In fact, it was thanks to Hakuren that Lab had managed to pin the Kor down in the first place...

"He'll be fine. He's worried about Teito-kun though."

"It never gets easier, does it?" I said, under my breath. The boy looked back at me and his eyebrow raised as he saw my face, "Zehel?"

"It's nothing."

"To answer your question from earlier, Frau." Castor said, looking straight at me, "I wanted to see what it was exactly that you'd told Teito-kun. Don't interrupt." He continued, when I opened my mouth, "I know exactly what you did tell him. Absolutely nothing."

Lab was staring hard at Castor. When Glasses mentioned that I'd didn't tell anything to Teito about my real identity, he gave an audible sigh and went back to work on Teito.

"Lab, I thought you were on my side." I complained. All I got was a faint chuckle from him as he continued working on Teito.

"I did hear something interesting though. Or rather,  _see_ something interesting." Castor stared at me seriously, "Teito seemed to know more about the Ghosts than any normal being does. Even a Church-goer. When I searched through his memories, I'd found...something. Something that Teito-kun could not dismiss as a hallucination." He smiled and there was nothing,  _absolutely nothing_ even remotely nice in that extremely creepy and more than a little sadistic grin of his, "Tell me, in what part of my request towards you to watch over this boy did I ever ask you to push him down to the floor and take his soul then and there? While he was still alive, no less."

"...I was not informed of this, Zehel."

"I...didn't take his soul." I finally said, "I wouldn't. I can't. I fucking  _can't,_ Castor. It'll be the end of both of us if I do."

"..."

"His soul is too.. _._ pure." Pure didn't even begin to describe it. Just remembering that incredibly bright light, making me feel like I'd never be cold, never be hungry again if I could just reach out and...I shook my head and continued, "If the scythe has a taste of that soul, it'll go berserk. It wouldn't stop hungering for more, until it drove me into a killing rampage, forcing me to eat every soul I could find, every  _innocent_ soul. We'd both go mad and...I think you know what the way out is for that kind of situation."  
"More so, because I was the one who warned you of it." Castor said, shaking his head, "If that's the case, maybe we should assign Hakuren-kun to watch Teito..."

"You may resist this, Profe. But it would be safer if Zehel was the one guarding my master, incompetent fool that he's proved to have been on several occasions." The boy said, "My master trusts his friend as he does Zehel and therefore watching him through the human child would be easy. But we would need a reason as to why the boy needs to watch over Master, and even though he'd be temporarily satisfied with the explanation that he was helping watch over Master, eventually he'd need a better explanation. Something involving a touch of the supernatural. And you do not need more people learning about your true identities."

"What makes you think that Teito-kun knows?" Lab asked.

"A Ghost just attacked him. Even if you give him no explanation for it, he would naturally make assumptions. And living in the world's largest store-house of literature concerning the Seven Ghosts would only help push his suspicion along. Not to mention Zehel is currently in possession of Verloren's Scythe, the one he charmingly refers to as 'little bastard'."

"And what will we do if your thesis turns out to be fact, Not-Teito?" Castor asked.

"You cannot erase his memory. His mind is still too fragile, reeling from the shock of losing all memories from before the bike crash. If you were to employ a memory-wipe now, you may accidently wipe away the memories he'd striven so hard to get back. And throwing Hakuren Oak into the equation, I do not think that your attempt at protecting the secret of the Church would go unnoticed, especially if the boy finds out one morning that his friend had...'forgotten' him." He looked away, "One thing would lead to another and you would end up having to repeatedly wipe both my master's and the Oak boy's memories. And that is not an idea I'm comfortable with."

"You're an annoying little prick, you know that right?" I told him. I felt Castor and Lab stiffen behind me as I said the words.

To my surprise, the kid didn't take offense at my words. In fact, he looked  _this_ close to laughing, "Similar comments have been made. But I have not come here to make friends, Zehel. I came here for one purpose only and that is..."

"To protect your master. You've mentioned that at least a thousand times." I said, "...You still haven't answered my question from earlier, you know."

"Feh. That perception ability is wasted on you." He turned around and walked back out through the door.

And in the back of my mind, an echo of a thought that was never mind whispered four words to me.

_"Master calls me Mikhail."_

_Does that mean I can call you that too?_ No answer. But I'd been expecting that.  _Bleh. Moody kid._

"We're not done talking about this, Glasses."

"I expect not. You do seem to keep ranting on a certain subject for quite a time." Castor said lightly. He frowned slightly when I sat in the chair near the marble table.

"Hey, you were the one who expected me to watch him, remember?"

Castor pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a sigh, "...Fine. If you consent to keep watch on him, Labrador and I will resume our Church duties. And as for Not-Teito..."

"I'll keep an eye on him too. But I really don't think we need to worry about that kid." Even if Not-Teito was a potential trouble-maker, his hands were tied because of that master complex of his. Assuming Teito gets used to the fact that he has a boy, who's the spitting image of him, waiting on him hand and foot. A snicker managed to work its way out, as I imagined how that scenario will turn out...

"Fine. I want hourly updates on his condition, Frau.  _No exceptions._ " He said. And he stomped out the door.

"Frau, you really shouldn't wind him up like that." Lab said finally, turning back to me.

"I don't even really do anything. He's just too easy to wind up." I said, "How's the kid?"

"His heart is stable. Whatever powers Teito-kun awakened, they were strong enough to heal a wound that cut straight through a still-beating heart." Although Lab looked relieved that Teito was still alive, I could still see how worried he was, "And his other wounds are also healing as we speak. Thank goodness..."

"What's with the chains anyway, Lab?"

Lab shifted uneasily, "...To restrain him. When he first came in here, he woke up and...he's alright now, at any rate."

"What did he do, Labrador?" I said.

"He woke up and...he kept screaming. Talking to things he couldn't see. Monsters, that's what he called them. He was screaming and thrashing about so much that we had to restrain him. And when I looked into his mind..." Lab broke off and he shuddered once.

My hands were gripping the table  _hard_ , and I worked to make my voice as calm as possible when I asked, "What did you see?"

"Nothing. That's exactly what worries me so. The things that keep haunting, Teito...we can't see them. Even though Ghosts are able to see everything."

"Yeah..." Something was nagging me at the back of my head, but I resisted. Lab looked just as tired as Castor did. "Go back to the Church, Lab. I'll take care of him. And I'll do a real good job of it."

Lab smiled, "Of that, I have no doubt, Frau." And he walked out the door.

I stared after him, "Now what the heck is that supposed to mean?"

A snort.  _And here I was actually thinking this blundering oaf was the most perceptive of all here._

 _Mikhail?_ Aaaaaaand...nothing.

_This kid is starting to get on my nerves. Well, I guess he and his master have that in common._

I stared at the kid on the table again. He'd been stripped down to his shorts, but he didn't show the least sign of discomfort lying on that cold table. His arms and legs had been bandaged, as well as his chest, but his hair and the side of his face was still caked with dried blood.

He looked completely at peace.

"Who the hell  _were_ you, kid?  _What_ were you? Why are they chasing you down like this?"

Teito, of course, didn't answer.

I leaned back on the sofa and closed my eyes, breathing deeply and wishing that my head would stop with the fucking pounding already.

But that was even harder to do when my eyes were closed. Because when they were closed, my focus concentrated on that strange, sweet smell that had been around me for days, flooding me, piercing through me and grabbing at my soul and the thing that tainted it, with an almost disturbing seductive whisper.

Louder than the whisper, I could hear the boy's screams, no longer a product of my deranged imagination.

Louder than the whisper, I felt warm blood trickling down my fingertips and pooling in my palm, blood that was too warm, too pure to belong to a cold-blooded monster like me.

I was this close to devouring that kid,  _this. Fucking. Close._ And they still wanted me to keep a watch on him?

I ran my hands through my hair, willing myself to stop being a pussy and calm down already. I just had to watch him for five hours. Just five hours. How hard could that be?

I took a deep breath, then cursed as the scent hit me harder than ever, knocking almost all of my good sense out of the window.

Fuck.

"Why me, kid?" I said finally, "Why would they pick me to guard you?"

His fingers, splayed over the table-top, curled slightly, almost as if he acknowledged my question.

"Kid?" But his breathing was still relaxed, expression still peaceful.

Warm and peaceful.

Even when he was sleeping, was still like this, the kid practically reeked of life. Of vitality. Must be something to do with his unusually powerful Zaiphon...

But was that it?

Memories of yesterday came to me yet again, but this time they weren't the ones I was trying to suppress. They were...different.

 _"How?" I whispered, strange sensations rising in me as I touched the impossibly warm, impossibly_ real  _skin that covered my face. Jade green eyes shot a confused look at me, "How did I-...you mean, this never happened before?"_

_"No, never." I answered automatically. A warm sensation flooded my fingertips as they brushed against his and I felt that strange ripple I felt earlier on my face. My hand closed on his and I pulled it away, staring at the impossible peach that I thought I'd never see._

_Not now. Not when I was wearing the skin of the monster._

_My true skin._

_"Does it hurt?"_

_...That was an unexpected question. I looked at him. Teito was staring at me with a concerned expression on his face._

_Concern?_

_...For me?  
_

_"Of course not. Idiot brat."_

"It's a miracle you haven't died already, kid, if that's the attitude you take towards the people trying to kill you." I said, in a low monotone, "You don't have to waste your breath worrying over something like me."

...But why are they after Teito in the first place?

Sure the kid had amazing Zaiphon abilities, the kind that most people spent years trying to get by honing their energies, but somehow, that didn't feel likely. Kor, Warsphiles and a tainted human Kor...what would they gain from chasing after Teito?

What did the old Teito possibly know or possess that had them so riled up that they'd do anything to get their claws on him?

A faint groan broke off my train of thought and I looked up to see Teito rolling onto his side, clutching his arm, face wrenched in pain.

"Mmnn...ow..."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Take it easy there, kid." I said, making my way over to the side of the table. Teito winced a bit more as he tried-and failed, miserably-to sit up.

"I said take it easy, damned brat."

"Urgh...I feel like I'd been stabbed in the chest with a glass shard or something..."

"Maybe because you  _had_  been stabbed in the chest?" I pointed out. At that, he stopped struggling and looked at me incredulously.

"...I was?" Was all he managed to ask.

"That and more. It's sheer luck that we were able to save your skin, y'know."

"...H-how close was I to..."

"Dying?" I chuckled humourlessly, "No more so than you had been for the last couple of days, kid."

Teito frowned, "The last c...couple of d...ays..."

"You probably shouldn't talk right now. I mean, I'm no doc, but even I can see that you're in no shape to move. Or talk." I added, when he was about to say something more, "Lie down before you fall over already. The last thing we need to worry about is a broken nose, brat."

Teito stared at me mutely for a minute, before his face cringed as another twinge of pain resonated through him. "...Ok." He carefully lowered himself down, but continued staring at me.

"Then, I'll just go get Glasses." I said. As I made my way to the door, I heard the kid mumble something. I stopped and turned around. "...What?"

"Why are you doing this?" Teito asked, staring resolutely at the ceiling above.

"Didn't I tell you this already? It's our job to protect those who can't protect themselves." I said, "Even if...we can't stop some dangers from attacking our ground."

"I can protect myself." Teito protested, trying to sit up and glare at me properly before another pained groan effectively stopped him.

"Yeah? Why don't I believe you right now?"

"Shut up!"

"Yeah, that's exactly what you're gonna do. Shut up and lie down on that table like a good little brat while I go get the mean old doctor who's gonna stick more than a few big needles into you."

"I am not a brat!" Teito hissed.

"Could've fooled me."

"Will you just sto-gah!" He screamed as another shudder tore through his body. I paused and looked at him. That one...sounded serious.

"Lie down, Teito!" I ordered, moving back to the kid's side, "Do you want to rip your wounds open and bleed to death or-"

"...Teito?" The kid looked at me blankly, "Who's Teito?"

I stopped talking and stared right back at him, "...What do you mean?"

"That's my line." Teito said, "What'd you call me?"

"I called you Teito." I answered carefully, even as twelve thousand thoughts started spinning around in my head, making it impossible for me to think clearly.

"That's the thing. Who's Teito? Better yet," The boy said, glaring at me as he said the next few words. Three little words that sent me reeling, knocked my world right off its axis and down into the seventh level of Hell.

"Who are you?"

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

**Author's Notes:**

**[1] The brand on Labrador's arm: Kinda obvious, but for those who don't know, or didn't get the reference, it's the brand Labrador got when he became a Ghost; the mark of Profe,**

**[2] Labrador's words on Frau: To be honest, it hasn't been specified in the manga how long Frau'd been a Ghost or how he'd even been turned into one, for that matter[heck, we don't even know his actual name yet]. It has been hinted that he was turned into one pretty young though, or at least been one far longer than Castor or Labrador. For the sake of this story, let's assume this hint to be reality.**

**[3]: Daishinyu: Japanese word for 'best friend', and a common term that Mikage uses to refer to Teito. Used here in the context of mind-torturing the poor boy to oblivion.**


	16. Touched

Ante Mortem

Chapter 15: Touched

?????:

_"Who are you...?"_

Even before the words left me, I knew. I knew how they tasted before I could know how they would sound.

They tasted of hurt and pain.

But more than anything, they tasted of guilt.

...Guilt?

Why would they taste of guilt?

What do I have to feel guilty about...?

The man in front of me watched me wordlessly, as I tried to sit up again, making no move to stop me this time. I clenched at my chest with a hand, willing the pain to lessen, just long enough for the pounding in my head to settle down.

But that didn't work either. Because a new, completely unexpected stinging in my wrists just amplified the pain I was already feeling.

"Ggh! Wha..." I looked down.

At first, I couldn't see the thin, ragged wounds that cut sharp circlets around my wrists. Mostly because they were half-hidden by iron cuffs, tied to the marble table I was sitting on with sturdy steel chains.

"What...what is this?" I asked. My voice sounded so strange; so rough and low that the words were mixed in the shadowy echoes.

But the man could hear anyway. "Those..." He said, and his voice was so cold, strangely cold, completely devoid of the light, joking humour that he'd spoken to me with, "Those are a security measure, kid."

"A security measure?" I asked bewildered.

"Yeah." He said.

"W-why would there be security measures for me?" He didn't answer. He just stared at me with a blank, unreadable expression.

And for some strange reason, it unnerved me more than the words he'd spoken and their underlying ominous tone.

"Hey...say something." The words just tumbled out of my mouth of their own accord. Cold dread ran through me, numbing the sharp shards of fear climbing up my neck, "Tell me. Why am I here? What am I doing here? Where did you find me? Why am I...why am I bound in chains?"

My voice cracked unexpectedly on the word  _chains_.

And that was all it took.

"Get them off."

That was all it took to break me.

"What?"

" _Get them off me!"_ I was dimly aware I was shrieking, half from pain and half from the stifling, choking feeling that wrapped around me, around my heart, my lungs, cutting off the air around me even as I gasped and clutched at the steel circlets binding me, binding me,  _tying me down, I couldn't move, I couldn't move, I couldn't move!_

I couldn't move!

Shiver after shiver raced through me, and though I shook I couldn't move.

_Why couldn't I move?!  
_

_I have to! I have to move, to run away!_

_Run...away...?_

_Run away?_

Cold chased away the burning. Cold cold cold...like steel, like blood from a corpse. My head was pounding, filled with visions that terrified me, even if I couldn't actually see them. But I didn't want to see them. No, no, no, I didn't.

Because if I did see them, the insanity would take over and it would be the end of me.

"Get them off me..." I repeated and my voice was so hoarse, it was almost a whisper. Something else had entered in the whisper though, and shame crept into my voice along with the tearful pleading tone that I just realized was there in my voice.

"Alright." That was...that was that man's voice.

...Wasn't it suddenly much louder somehow?

Louder without being louder...I suddenly realized it wasn't louder because he was shouting. Because the man wasn't shouting.

I looked up and the first thing I saw was his large form bent over me. Bent over me, as the other man had once before...

Other man?

What other man...?

The faint touch of cold brushed the skin against my wrists as keys jangled and the silver cuffs were suddenly pulled off me.

"You're lucky that sadistic witch-doctor gave me these." He continued. A shaky laugh escaped from me at the tone in his voice, child-like, almost petulant, and though I couldn't see his expression, I imagined the kind of face he would be making as he said the words.  
"I...I guess I am then." I said. I didn't know what else to say.

My whole body felt numb, I could just feel my hands by my sides, my heart's pounding slowing down and the panic in me fading slowly, slowly back to darkness.

"It didn't take me..."

"What didn't take you?"

"The...the..." Again, my lips were unwilling to move, but the words forced they way through, as if whatever meaning they carried simply  _had_ to be relayed to the man in front of me. The stranger in front of me.

Stranger.

Stranger.

The word...it tasted wrong.

No, it didn't. It didn't taste. It felt. It feels...

"Are you scared?"

Anger and irritation finally burned through the numbness. Gods, it felt  _amazing._

"And what was your first clue?" Damnit. I sounded like how I felt. Confused beyond belief and  _this_ close to crying. But the anger strengthened me, the flare of it uncomfortably close to the...

Something cold touched my face. My first instinct was to recoil away from the cold,  _any_ cold, put as much distance between myself and it as humanely possible.

But then, the warmth came.

It was a strange warmth. Not warm like the fire that had burned me mere moments ago. Warmth, a gentle warmth, cloaked in the aftermath of the cold touched my cheek. The strange cold brushed the tears in my eyes, tears I didn't even know were there, away from my cheeks.

"Are you scared, kid?" His voice was low, serious. I looked up at him then, and the cold feeling moved with me, brushing against my cheek absentmindedly.

His fingers, cloaked in gloves, were abnormally cold, even in the burning heat of this room. But the cold was a relief after the burning panic that had filled me moments before.

"I was before."  _Not now._ Now I could think. I carefully pushed through the disoriented workings of my mind and tried to settle inside a space of calm. In the eye of the storm.

"I'm sorry for...well, overreacting like that." Something shone in his eyes then, peeking through the cracks in the mask. If I looked closely enough, I could see a glint of...laughter? Exasperation? And something else...

"It's fine. Believe me, what with the past few months, this isn't the first time I had to deal with...well, stuff like this."

"It must've been hell for you then."

A laugh did escape him then. It was short and towards the end, it took on a self-deprecating tone. "You have no idea."

I took in a deep breath.  _Ok, think. Think. What happened to me before? Why did I land up here?_ The room didn't look familiar to me. At least, I think it's not...I frowned, trying to wrack my still-foggy brain for answers and coming up with nothing.

"Did you give me some..something for my injury?"

The man looks at me like I'm nuts. "Nah, we just left it alone because hey, it's just a bloody, festering  _stab wound_ just a few inches above your heart and you were  _this fucking close_ to dying." The myriad of emotions flashing in his eyes melded into two, easily-identifiable emotions. A brief flash of anger, brightening the blue in his eyes to a wild electric gleam.

A wild and dangerous electric gleam.

But the gleam illuminated the underlying shadows near the edges, half-hidden by his eyelashes.

Shadows of hurt.

Flecked with pain.

I paused and looked at him harder.  _Did he...is he injured too?_ The thought filled me with the same burning dread and I winced as I felt it crackle at the edges of my mind. I took in more air, fingers clenched, trying to fight off the panic that threatened to consume me.

Consume me and eat me alive.

"Are you alright?"

I wasn't so far gone that I couldn't ask that.

And just like that, his mask clicked back into place, cutting off the raw emotion; the anger...and the hurt that I saw, the only two things that had, at that point, made him look human.

...Human?

I blinked. Where did that thought come from? Of course he was human. He looked and felt like one didn't he?

"I'm fine, kid. Worry about yourself for once." He turned away from me, towards the door of the room.

A door, I suddenly realized, which was slightly ajar. Blinding white light poured through the crack, casting strange dancing shadows into the room.

...What was on the other side of that door?

_...!_

"OW!" I shouted. The shouting just made the pain worse, pain that suddenly flared up from nowhere between my temples, pain that made it impossible for me to think.  _Ugh, great. As if I wasn't feeling like crap already..._

"Take it easy." Cold, sweet blissful cold left an ice-trail on my face and moved up to my forehead, pressing against my temples. I opened my eyes-when had I closed them...?-to see him stare right at me, "You can't get jackshit done if you just keep yelling and freaking out about everything you see in front of you."

"R-right."

"Now think. What's the last thing you remember before...waking up here?"

"The last thing I remember?"

"Yeah."

_The last thing I remember...is..._

"Ugh! Damn it!" I clenched my teeth as the throbbing increased tenfold, hammering at my thought processes with what felt like a hail shower, where the hail was about as big as my head.

"Focus, kid."

"I'm trying! I'm trying, can't you see that?!"

The man refused to answer, but stared at me expectantly. He didn't need to talk. His expression spoke for him.

_Stop screwing around and do it already._

And man, that just  _pissed me off._

_To hell with this!_

"Haahh..." My breath was forced out in a deep sigh that I barely noticed, my eyes were closed again and I didn't even notice. I just concentrated on slowly working through the pain and fishing out the thoughts that flitted behind it, one by one. The cuts on my wrist and the stab wound in my chest throbbed dully, the magnitude of the pain more reduced in comparison, even though they'd been agonizing for me just a few minutes before. I whispered the words over and over again, in my head-and maybe out loud, I couldn't really tell-a mantra that gave me the strength to fight.

_The last thing I remember._

_The last thing I remember._

_The last thing I remember is...remembering something._

_Remembering something?_ I frowned. Talk about stating the obvious...but no, I did feel like I remembered something before waking up here...wherever  _here_ was.

So then. What did I remember remembering?

...Even inside my head, the words sounded stupid.

 _Focus already._ I said sternly, mentally shaking myself senseless.  _Focus..._

My thought process stopped dead in its tracks.

_Focus...what?_

No.

_Focus..._

No way.

_Focus...what?_

_No. Not 'what'._

_'Who'._

No way! That...that isn't possible!

_Who am...?!_

There's no way in hell that's even...!

"Kid?"

I looked up slowly at the man before me. He'd settled down on a seat near the table I was on, staring at me apprehensively, "What's wrong?"

"Who...who am I?"

The man blinked at me before narrowing his eyes. "You don't know?"

I shook my head. I didn't want to say it. I couldn't say it.

Saying it meant that it was really true.

And yet, it was still  _there._ It was there in the air between us, merely amplified by my silent, unwilling admission. I was dimly aware of my arms shaking, shaking so badly my entire torso trembled. I was dimly aware of sharp eyes, the man's gaze trained on me, watching my every move. I lowered myself back down on the table, throwing an arm over my eyes.

It was childish. I knew it was, but I clung to those precious few seconds that I couldn't see what was in front of me, holding on to the belief that if I couldn't see, and if I could just block out the restless thoughts flying around in my head, then it wasn't happening.

I didn't want this.

I don't want to go through with this again.

...Again?

Wait. What did that-

ARGH!

"Aaaaaah!" The scream had forced itself through my mouth as soon as the pain in my skull burned my mind. A fire burned with ice-like intensity in my chest, a strange, painful fire.

Strange. And familiar.

_Why was it famili-nngh!_

Pain. Pain. Pain. My body was a living conduit for the pain and it ran through me in rolls of stinging bolts of lightning. It scorched me, charred every part of me that it touched, made me scream with renewed intensity and in those brief periods of rest between the jolts, my body felt leaden, heavy.

_Make it stop! Make it stop!  
_

_MAKE IT STOP!  
_

_I don't want this, I don't want this, I don't want this..._

_I can't take it anymore!_

"You're in too deep to run away now, kid."

My eyes snapped open and met with grave violet-blue. His face was barely a few inches away from mine, his hands pinning my wrists to the table and his knee pushing both my legs down by my thighs, making it impossible for me to move. "What...?"

"Don't run away."

_I don't want this._

_I just don't want it, damn you!_

"Stop it!" I yelled, cringing as the pain intensified. How was that even possible..."Stop talking to me like that!"

"If you really want me to stop, then make me."

I swore and I heard him chuckle under his breath. "Get the hell off me, you, you..."

I stopped.

"Go on." He said, in a taunting, mocking tone, even as his eyes blazed with that angry fire I keep seeing again and again, "Go ahead and finish that sentence. What were you about to call me?"

I stared at him, panting as renewed spasms of pain shook through me. But even as my body screamed in agony, my mind came to a standstill. My ears heard my screams and the huffing of the man above me as he kept me immobile, but my mind simply registered the radio silence that blared through my mind as his question kept echoing around my head.

_What were you about to call me?_

_Damn it all._

_Damn._

_Damn._

_Damned...?_

I shuddered. But not because of the pain.

I felt it. I felt like I was standing on the edge of something. Something dangerous, something deep. Something that could be the end of me if I took a wrong step, or looked into the abyss for far too long.

I looked back up at him and saw something else. The anger was gone...and replaced by something else.

Pain.

A pain far,  _far_ worse than mine. Than

"Don't run away, Teito."

I took a deep breath.

And I jumped off the edge.

"Will you get off me already? You're cutting off the blood circulation to my legs." I stared back up at him, and gave a shaky grin, "Damned Bishop."

He stared at me back, eyes wide. Shock momentarily flitted through his features before his mask slid back into place, devoid of pain and devoid of surprise. Devoid of everything except wariness. "...Teito? Is that you?"

"...Yeah. I think." Even as we spoke, I continued searching through my mind. I could only pull up a few memories, only if I concentrated hard enough, but it was enough to remind me of who I was. Who I had been before I was injured.

"...Was that you before? When you were talking to me?"

I blinked. "Yes. It was. I mean, I woke up without memories. I didn't remember what happened but...I was still me, I guess?" He continued staring at me, his expression completely unreadable. I shifted uncomfortably and winced when I was not-so-gently reminded of the pain that radiated through my  _entire being._ And seeing as I couldn't do anything about it, sinceFrau was...right on top of me.

I coughed.

"Uh. Could you get off me? I wasn't kidding about the 'cutting off my blood-circulation' part. And I'm not really, um, at my healthiest right now."

Frau snorted, "That is the understatement of the year, don't you think?"

"These past few months haven't exactly been a picnic for me. For either of us." I said, laughing shakily and groaning when yet  _another_ bolt of pain shot through me, "Urgh."

"I stand corrected.  _That_ is the understatement of the century."

"...Why?"

"Hm?"

"Why did you do it?" I asked. I was speaking so quietly, I wasn't even sure he could hear me.

But I didn't want to speak the words out loud. Because if I did, then he would hear me clearly. And if he did, he would answer me, tell me something I didn't want to hear.

And then...

"Do you mean," He said, just as quietly, "'Why did I want you to remember?'"

I nodded.

"I have no fucking clue."

"...Eh?"

"You heard me." He sighed, running his hand through his hair, "I really don't know why. I don't know why I made you remember. I just know that it won't be easier for any of us if I just left you alone."

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it, Teito." He said, as he leaned back on the chair he was sitting on, "You have to be under constant supervision at all times; hell, even without the recent attacks and attempts on your life, it's not like we can just leave an amnesiac teenager to fend for himself, especially now, in a time where the forces of Darkness are starting to act up."

"Do you mean the Kor?"

"There are plenty of things out there worse than those bottom-feeders, but yeah, that's the general idea. And every other Bishop and Nun in the area is busy with  _something_ or the other, whether it's peace-keeping missions with the neighbouring Districts to prevent riots and gang-wars or just maintaining the upkeep of the Church." He grinned, "I have my fair share of stuff too, but it's not like they actually expect anything productive out of me at any rate. The old fart...Archbishop Jio gave up on me long ago and there isn't anyone else who actually gives a shit about what I do at this point. And besides," At this point he looked right at me and his grin took on a slightly more wistful edge, "you would remember at some point who you were, kid, and you would give me hell for not trying and helping out your sorry ass sooner when you do."

"...For someone who said that they didn't know why they did what they did, that's a pretty elaborate list."

"Huh. Guess it is."

I did look at him then, "You don't know." At his questioning look, I continued, "I...there may have been...there could have been a possibility that I could have never remembered who I was. So..."

"Nah, that's pretty much a given."

"Huh?"

"Think about it. Even if you'd forgotten who you were, you've left enough of a mark on this Church just to fade away, forgotten in the general public. Heck, they call you the 'Wayward Lamb beloved by God' here." I must've been making a strange expression at this point, because he took one look at me and snickered, "Also, not counting the fact that you're known as one of the most powerful people here when it comes to Zaiphon, there are people whose lives you've touched that won't allow you...Teito Klein to disappear completely. Hakuren Oak, Lazette, the church orphan Capella...even us. They wouldn't leave you alone, not after everything you've done for them."

"But...all I've done is bring nothing but trouble to them. Because of me, the Church keeps getting attacked again and again..."

"Don't flatter yourself, brat. With or without you here, the Church would still be attacked by Kor. You haven't seen it because you've been staying in the Church since you woke up, but it's been a long time since this town, these  _districts_ have seen anything resembling peace."

"Why would they...?"

"You've been reading up on them, haven't you?"

"Well, yeah." I paused and scrunched up my forehead, trying to remember, "Kor are supposed to be servants of the Death God Verloren right? They were created to gather souls for him. And even with Verloren sealed away, they continue to gather souls, because they think that it'll bring him back if they gather enough. I think." I remembered the time when I'd relayed the same information to Castor-san, back after I had been chased by the first Kor that attacked the Church.

And as I read the same passage I'd relayed to Frau from the books from the Church library, I wondered.

How did the past Teito know so much about Kor? And why? Did he need to know or was it mere curiosity?

"Yeah. Those bastards've been getting cockier lately; they're stealing souls in open daylight now. They've even attacked the Church and tried to spirit people away when they came after you."

"What?! They did?!" I clambered back up to a sitting position, not caring that, by this point, my whole body complained at the sudden movement, " Hakuren and Capella, Lazette, are they all...?"

"Capella's safe with the other Church orphans. And Castor kept one of his 'beloved creations' on standby to look after Lazette when he went after you."

"...And?"

Frau looked away.

"Where's Hakuren?" My voice was steady. Somehow.

"The kid'll be fine."

"What happened to him?" Still calm.

"...He was injured by the boy-Kor."

"Injured?" Unwilling, a hitch had crept back into my tone. I cleared my throat and said, "...To...I mean how...how badly?"

"Not bad. He lost a lot of blood though, so they're making him stay the night after they patch him up." He did look back at me then, "At least he didn't get kicked in the ribs, stomped on his right arm, choked to the point where he had finger-marks on his neck, a bruised jaw and stabbed in the heart with a jagged glass shard. In fact, the only thing you two have in common are the marks made by the ropes of power that Kor commanded."

"And the other Church acolytes?"

"They left."

"So then, Hakuren, he-"

"Stayed behind."

_Stayed behind._

_Stayed behind, close enough to get hurt by that...that..._

"Where was he? Where was he when you found him?" Frau didn't say anything then. He didn't have to. "He was right there, wasn't he? He was right there, when Mikage-" My sentence broke off abruptly as the tears I'd been holding back for so long finally fell.

"That Kor was once your best friend."

It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes." And with that admission, my shoulders fell, and the heavy weight in my chest, the one that I'd been trying so hard not to think about, to feel even, pressed down on my sore chest mercilessly and wrapped itself around my throat, almost as if it was preventing me to talk about it further. But I had to.

I needed to.

I wiped my tears away.

"He was my best friend. And I lost him, because I was selfish."

_I was selfish enough to want him around me. Me, a boy for whom Death and Suffering had marked as their own. I knew exactly what he was getting into when he asked to be my friend, I knew it and I..._

"And that other brat is your friend now, isn't he?"

"Other brat...you mean Hakuren?" I stared at him in confusion, "Well...yes. I suppose he and I are friends."

"And considering how much the kid raves about you day in and day out, he either has the world's biggest crush on you and is currently hiding a velvet box under his pillow that has 'absolutely nothing' to do with a brat that goes riding on Fyulongs and talks to Death Gods..." He took one look at my face and chortled, "or he actually cares about you.".

"Cares...? About me?"

He took a long look at me, reached over...

And flicked me on the forehead.

"OWW! What the hell?" Damn, that hurt!

"For a brat that can memorize entire passages from the book and spout them back out six hours after he learnt them, you are really, really slow. Don't you get it?" He leaned closer and though his grin was teasing, his eyes were filled with understanding, "He  _cares_ about you. And what do people do when they care about you?"

"When they care about me...?"

"They talk to you. They surround you when you're the most alone. They support you through good times and bad. They protect you when you can't protect yourself. That kind of shit."

I stared at him wordlessly as he started fumbling around in his trench-coat pocket before he finally pulled out a carton of cigarettes and a lighter. He stuck one in his mouth, lit it and took a deep drag, visibly relaxing as the smoke fills his lungs.

"...Don't look at me like that. I get enough rap from Doll Freak and the old man as it is." He breathed in again before he continued, "But yeah. Like I said, there are people who care about you. Enough to not want to see you suffer anyway, let alone die horribly in the arms of a sociopath hell-bent on making your life...hell?" He paused, frowning before he shrugged and continued, "So why not try and depend on them a little?"

"Depend on them a little? Hakuren could have  _died_!" The anger surged back up, amplified by the piercing pain from my chest wound, "

"Did you even see his condition for yourself, kid?"

"I know what that bastard can do! I know...I've seen him take my best friend's humanity away..." My voice shook again. I cleared my throat and glared at him, trying to find strength in my anger, "So don't you fucking ask me if I know how badly my friend is injured, because I've  _been there,_ I've  _seen_ what he can do!"

"...You remembered something?"

"Yes. I did, right before Castor-" I broke off and looked at him. He nodded, "Yeah, that's old news to me, kid. It's fine. Go on."

"I didn't tell him. About your secret, I mean. But...I think he already knows."

"And why do you say that?" Frau kept that same nonchalant tone in his voice, but I saw his fingers tighten around the cigarette he was holding.

"Because he's one of you. He's...He's the Ghost Fest, isn't he?"

Frau stared at me, all wide-eyed. The gesture wiped away all the signs of caution and stress on his face, making it look really young, child-like even. And for a brief moment, I wondered really how old the man was. His mask hid more than his emotions; they hid his vulnerability, his weakness.

Was he really what he seemed? That immature prankster Bishop who shattered rules into pieces no matter where he went?

What did I really know about him?

"How did you become a Ghost?" The question slipped out before I could stop myself. I tensed as his eyes narrowed, his mask slipping neatly back into place. "Um...you don't have to answer that if you don't want to. Really." I kneaded my right shoulder, wishing that the pain would just go away for a minute or so, so I could focus on the conversation, "It's not like I'm an open book either."

He laughed again at that, that same laugh with the same tinge of bitter self-mockery. "Bullshit."

"Eh?"

"Nothing. And to answer your question, yes. Castor's Fest."

I blinked. I wasn't expecting him to answer at all, let alone admit that Castor was a Ghost. "I see."

"Bishop Labrador and Bishop Lance are Ghosts too. Ghosts Profe and Rilect."

"They are?" I asked. Truth be told, I was kind of expecting Bishop Labrador to be a Ghost as well; he was very close to both Castor and Frau, close enough to presume that if his friends were Ghosts, there was a possibility that he may know of their secret because he himself was one. Also, although he seemed to be quiet and low-key compared to the other two, there were times I could feel the power and authority befitting of the supernatural Ghosts emanate from him, hidden but still very much there.

But Bishop Lance...the more that I thought about it, he did seem to fit with the idea of a Ghost, but...that was quite a surprise.

"Is this alright to tell me?"

"Like hell it is. But you're already in too deep to even ask that."

"I'm sorry." Surprise flitted yet again through his face momentarily, before he gave an exasperated sigh, reached over...and started mussing up my hair.

"Oi! Cut that out!" I protested, as he ruffled it up. I tried to stop his hand from messing my hair up further(one  _hand? His hands have to be big too? Really? As if his overwhelming height wasn't enough..._ I thought grumpily), but winced when the wound in my chest throbbed angrily.

Frau noticed and took his hand away. "Last I checked, it was my fault what you saw last night. Don't apologise, Teito. The blame's not yours to take."

Something had crept into his voice as he said the last words. His face didn't change but...

"And it's not your fault either, Frau. It's not." I repeated, when he gave me another 'are you insane, brat?' look, "I may not know much of what happened yesterday night, but I know that you didn't mean to attack me."

"And how do you know that, kid?" It was still him. Still Frau. But his voice had taken on a darker, edged tone that sounded more like the creature that possessed him and not like the man I knew.

Even though I knew next to nothing on what...who Frau was.

"I just know."

And I meant what I said. I knew exactly what I was talking about.

I'd only seen two expressions in Frau's face as he hastily pulled the scythe away from me and forced it back down in his being.

Guilt.

Self-loathing.

"He just knows." Frau repeated in disbelief, "Do you act like this with all your would-be murderers, kid?"

"You weren't going to kill me."

"Yes, I was and you know it!"

"You stopped yourself in time, didn't you?"

"And what if I hadn't? What if I just kept going _?_ " He said bitterly. When I didn't answer that, he continued, "You could've  _died_ back there, Teito. You were this close to dying a horrible death of having your soul sucked out of your still-alive body."

"But you didn't."

"You said I didn't know the bastard coming after you, right? It goes both ways. You don't know anything about the little bastard I've been 'controlling'. You don't know anything about the murderer living inside me and you don't know the things that we both have done, that we're more than capable of doing. You haven't seen what kind of monster we are. No, not a monster." He clenched his arm. His bandaged arm, I realized suddenly.

And the same arm where I'd seen the scythe disappearing into last night.

"In most cases, a monster had, at least, been a man once before."

"Then tell me." He looked at me sharply, "Tell me about what happened to you."

"Do you really want to know, Teito?"

He was serious. Of course, he had been talking in a grave tone this entire conversation, but right then, as he said those words, I  _really_ felt the grave tone, the searching look he was giving me.

_Did I want to know what happened to him?  
_

_Do I want to know just how deep is the abyss of secrets that he cloaked behind that fool's grin?_

_Do I want to_ know _?_

I did not think about any of those questions.

Instead I remembered something.

A memory had somehow managed to drag itself away from the whirlpool of confusion that was my mind, nudging at my consciousness with increasing urgency. And when I'd paused just long enough to consider Frau's question, it caught hold of my attention.

I remembered.

"Teito?"

I looked at him then, and he saw my expression. And almost as if he knew what I was about to do, he tensed.

Afraid?

No. Just associating the word with Frau of all people felt wrong. No, he...he looked...

Slowly, always slowly, I stretched my arm towards him. I was still lying down, but he was still sitting close enough that I could...

I kept my face blank, I tried not to show any reaction when my fingers finally made contact with the skin of his chest.

Keyword being 'tried'.

He flinched away from me as soon as I touched him, the wariness in his expression changing to a raw, solid anger, the likes of which I'd never seen, I'd never even  _think_ of seeing on  _Frau's_ face of all people.

"I'm sorry." I repeated again. He appeared not to have heard me, instead he was staring at me with the same unknown rage. My gaze shifted instead to my fingers.

They hung in front of me, numb with cold.

A strange ice-cold that could never, ever belong to a living human body.

"Frau, you..." Strange. My voice. Was steady. Even though my breathing was anything but, even though my head spun with the thoughts that raced through it, even though the ache in my body made it difficult to focus on anything else.

"What...happened...to you?"

"Teito?"

 _"How?! How did this happen?!"_ I was screaming again. Screaming with the pain it caused my body to scream so, screaming with anger, my own anger that surged and ebbed uncontrollably through me and screaming with confusion.

And...despair.

 _"How are you dead?!"_ There's no way! There was no way in Hell that Frau could be dead!

No! Please, no!

_**"I don't want you to die!"** _

This couldn't be happening! Not again, not again, please, please, Dear God,  _no!_

_**"Mikage!"** _

_A sweet, sweet smile directed at me, even as my vision blurred, even as I could taste the salt of tears dripping down my cheeks._

_**"I love you."  
** _

_**"No! Mikage, don't!"** _

_**"I love you, Teito."** _

I didn't want to lose anyone else! Not again!

"Teito,  _stop_!"

My vision was blurry.

Huh? Blurry?

Why was it-

"Stop, Teito." Frau ordered me gently. His hands gripped at my wrist, the fabric of the gloves chastising the cuts on my wrist, leaving behind a pricking sensation.

_How was it possible for him to move?_

_How..._

_When he should be..._

_How was he here?_

_Why was he here?_

"Why you?" A horrible sense of deja vu washed over me as I realized I was crying again, I could again taste the salty tinge of tears, I could again feel hot droplets trace their paths down my face.

The only thing that was different was that my hands, my body weren't covered in warm, hideously warm, gloriously warm life-blood.

Blood that was not my own.

"Why did you die? Why are you d...dead?"

"Teito..."

"Why did you..." I hiccupped, trying to stop my sobs from tumbling out and failing. Dismally. "Why are you..."

"Teito, listen to me." Rough hands, gentle hands brushed my tears away and lean fingers forced my chin up so I had to look at the man's face. The anger was gone, replaced by...worry? And a sort of...wonder. I think. It was hard to tell.

"Yes. I died. I'm dead right now, I'll admit it. But, I'm walking and talking right now, aren't I? I'm right here, talking to you."

"Is it...hic, because you're a Ghost?"

"Yeah." So it  _was_ true. What I'd read. And what Castor-san had said.

"I have no fucking clue about how we do revive and all that shit. Something about dormant genes in blood cells. Or whatever. The point is though, that even though legally, I'm supposed to be declared dead and rotting away in one of those creepy metal boxes under 12 feet of dirt, I'm still here. Aren't I?"

"...You sleep in a coffin and you find them creepy?" I finally managed, brushing my eyes on the back of my hand.

"Hey, that is completely different. Mine at least has  _character._  It does." He insisted when I gave him a sceptical look, "It's much bigger than any other mass-produced coffin in this District and it even has those tiny little pockets in the velvet lining for when I need to store my cigarettes and stuff."  
"Yes, I suppose getting a coffin for a man of your size would be difficult. Behemoth." I muttered.

"Ho. Jealous of my sinful bod, are we, brat?"

"A) I'm not a brat and B) you are a delusional, perverted fool." I scoffed, "I'm insulting you and you're taking it as a complement?"

"It means you're looking at my insanely hot body, aren't you, brat?" He said, and that shit-eating grin made its long-awaited appearance back on his face.

"Should I really have to add 'pedophile' to the long-list of insults I'm tacking on to your name?"

"So you  _do_ admit you're a brat then!" He finished, looking triumphant.

"For the last time, you  _stupid idiot retarded_ damn Bishop, I am not a brat! I'm fifteen!  _Fifteen_! I'm calling you a pedophile, seeing as how you're older than me and all." I hissed.

"Eh?" And Frau really did look surprised at that. Goddamnit. "Actually, if you are fifteen, that would make me only about 5 or 6 years older than you."

"...Wait, what?" Did I really hear that right? "But aren't you around 28 or something?"

"Ow, brat. That stung." He complained, "I'm 21."

"...Ehhhh?!"

"...What? I am. At least, counting the years since I've...well, y'know."

"I thought you were older than Castor-san and Labrador-san."

"Nah. Castor's 25 and Lab's 24."

"You're seriously the youngest? You? You're the one who gives me the most flak about looking like a kid."  **[1]**

"I have to get my revenge  _somehow,_ don't I?"

"...You're unbelievable. Urgh. I think my head's aching even worse now. If that's humanely possible."

"Knowing you, Teito, anything is."

_...Huh?_

"You should get some more rest. At least, according to the other runty brat who just waltzed in here, like it was his personal, marble-gilded palace."

"'Other runty brat...?' What are you even talking about?"

"You'll find out soon enough." He said, as he got up and shrugged his coat back on, "Just get some rest already."

"...Will you tell me one day? How you...died?"

He stopped dead at that and I regretted saying the words almost immediately. We were having a perfectly normal conversation for once, one not involving anything related to Kor or Verloren or Ghosts or anything like that.

A conversation that made me feel...normal. Not the confused kid that I was, not Teito Klein the runaway and Frau the powerful, avenging Ghost. Just Teito Klein the boy and Frau the man.

"I'll tell you." He replied. His face was unreadable, but his words were strong and certain, "Not now. But one day, I'll tell you."

"Ok."

"Go to sleep. I'll wake you up for dinner."

"Alright." Even as I talked, my eyes were closing little by little.  _I guess the pain-killers are finally working._ I thought sleepily.

There was one thing I had to say before I could finally surrender to the sweet, blissful darkness that was sleep. "'rau?"

"Hmm?"

"I'll tell you something too. When you tell me how you died."

"...You don't have to, kid. You can keep your secrets."

"No, no...I wan...to. 'Cause then, you won't have to suffer alone." I smiled, "'s not much, but I do have memories of a friend of mine. My best friend. He gave me a reason to live...but that idiot...he's the reason I feel like dying. Like I'm dying a little bit every single day." I chuckled bitterly, "'s stupid, right?"

I heard the rustle of moving fabric and cold fingers settled themselves in the locks of my hair, patting it gently. "Yeah. Real stupid."

I frowned. "You weren' supposed t'agree."

"Picky picky." Frau snorted, "... _Sleep._ "

And my eyelids couldn't hold back anymore and the waiting darkness finally took over.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Frau:

I carefully pulled my hand back from Teito's hair as the kid finally drifted off into a deep sleep, calm settling over his face as the spell finally took over. He murmured a bit and shifted, rolling onto his side, before finally settling in a comfortable enough position. Well, comfortable enough, considering he was sleeping on a marble table that did not look comfortable  _at all._

Which reminded me. Why was he sleeping on the table in the first place? It wasn't like he needed to be bound now, what with him being completely back to normal and all.

I hesitated, then looked back at the kid again. And sighed.

"Alright." I muttered, not to anyone in particular as I hooked an arm under his back, slipped it under his side and crossed his chest, catching him at the shoulder. With my other hand, I did the same thing with his legs. I took in a deep breath and pulled him slowly up.

He frowned a bit, but didn't awaken. Looks like the meds Castor gave him were finally working. I shifted him in my arms a bit so he was lying flat on them, and made my way over to the bed.

The mattress looked hard and there were barely any blankets covering it, but at least it would be better to sleep on that than the table.

"Mmmm..." I froze as the kid mumbled sleepily and flailed about a little, before muttering again.

"It's ok. I'm just getting you a better place to sleep." Teito didn't appear to have heard that, as he'd stopped moving about at that point. I made my way over to the side of the bed and set him down, throwing a thin blanket over him.

He didn't even stir this time.

I just stared at the kid as he slept on, oblivious to the shit-storm that the Kor-attack had set upon the Church, to the rumours spreading around the place like wildfire, to the fact that there were people after his life, the dangerous kind, the powerful kind, the kind that would mow down anyone who stood in their way to reach their goal.

Even their loved ones. Their family.

_I want to tell you. Because then, you won't have to suffer alone._

"Why would you even care what I feel, kid? It's not like anyone else does." I'd made sure of that from that fateful day, I'd made sure that people saw Bishop Frau, the pervert, the troublemaker, the wise guy who basically got under everyone's skin and pissed people off. Not Frau. Not the real him.

 _"My best friend. He gave me a reason to_ live _...but that idiot...he's the reason I feel like dying. Like I'm dying a little bit every single day."_

_"It's stupid, right?"_

_**"I don't think you're something worth giving up on, dear child."** _ _An amused grin, tinged with a hint of kindness in those dark eyes,_ _**"After all, you yourself had said that you were capable of doing worse. Much worse. What's stopping you then?"** _

_It wasn't a question of what was stopping me then, Bastien._ I thought, repeating the words I wanted to say to him. And didn't because of pride, foolish pride.  _It was a question of who. I didn't give a damn what people said about me, but then, you had a reputation to uphold. Heh, after all you were the fucking Assistant Archbishop of the largest Church in all the Seven Districts, the Haven for the Seven Ghosts and their place of worship._

_It's not like I have to worry about that anymore, do I?_

_Now that you're gone?_

"Yeah. Really fucking stupid."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

**Author's Notes:**

**[1] Frau's age: Yeah, believe it or not, our fave pervy Bishop is actually the youngest of the trio! How does one be so young and have that much height *Teito-ish trauma face* It does not compuuuuuute...*phut* *phut***


	17. Saved

**...Let's just get the ball rolling, shall we?**

Ante Mortem

Chapter 16: Saved

Hakuren:

This is a dream.

Because dreams always started out this way.

They take you by the hand, lead you by the heart and crush you by the wing.

Such harsh words. I'd expected to hear them in the edged, sharp monotone of authority that echoed through the cold mansion that was my childhood home. The only voice that was permitted to speak, accompanying the piercing gaze that roved its owner's kingdom of power.

So it surprised me when they were voiced not by my father, but by my sweet angel of a mother. They were voiced in passing, not intended to fall on other human ears.

But I was there. Always by her side, long after the end of everything.

I remembered the day well. It was snowing outside. A brief dusting of Mother Nature's sweet frost, nothing more, but it was enough to rouse a reaction out of me. I lived in the First District, which was close enough to the Seventh District to get the backlash of its terrible desert weather, so it was my first time seeing snow.

I was not allowed outside. I never was. So I had to content myself with sitting on the carpeted floor near the window, close enough that my breath touched the glass and froze to white before my wide, disbelieving eyes.

It was beautiful.

I wondered what the snow smelt like.

_Crash!_

The sudden noise broke me out of the snow's hypnotic spell, and I looked behind me to see Mother standing near the door.

Her eyes were not as gentle as they had always been. They were wild with a strange, mad fire I'd never seen before. Her hair framed them, falling around them in frantic curls, and her dress, the pale blue one with snow-white frills, was stained with wine on the sleeves and skirt.

"M-mommy?"

Her eyes fell on me, and for a moment my heart stilled.

Rage, open and honest, pure rage. That was what I saw in her eyes.

"Mommy?" I remembered whispering. Tears pricked at my eyes.

Mother blinked and I saw the anger melt away. Her eyes drooped, her face fell and her shoulders sagged.

"Hakuren..." She croaked.

I didn't remember running-or even moving-to her side. I was...there somehow. I just remember the smell of her perfume as I clutched her hands, asking, "Are you ok, Mommy?"

I remember the rustle of fabric as she bent to her knees beside me, and the sparkle of her gold chain in the corner of my eye, suddenly so close as she wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug.

"Hakuren..."

Over and over she'd whispered my name, her voice becoming more ragged every time she uttered it.

I hugged her back, wishing this feeling of unease would just go away.

It never did, of course. Hah. It never would as long as I'd lived in this cursed household.

And it followed me long after I'd left it.

My wrists pricked and itched, demanding my attention.

Useless thoughts swirled around in my mind, along with my childhood memories, demanding my attention in restless murmurs.

Rusty fatigue scratched away at my mind, clawing at my limbs insistently...but even though my eyes were closed, even though I tried valiantly to empty my mind...restless murmurs clawed at my mind, at my soul, the prickling touch of dread catching at my heart and chest.

I suppose eventually the random thoughts of my mind arranged themselves into something resembling sense. I recognized them as the fragments of another memory; but not a single entity like the one I'd just had of that single snow day, the only one I'd witnessed for as long as I'd lived.

_"...The day that my heart broke"_

_"Was when the loving white took wing"_

_"And covered the earth with tender care"_

_"Cold as the heart of my beloved king..."_

_"Tears fall and I know not"_

_"Of whence they came or why they appear"_

_"This sadness I buried long ago"_

_"Traded for what I thought was fulfilment"_

_"Resignation"_

_"And that single, damnable love"_

_"Seems to show in your eyes for me"_

_"I've regretted not once the choices I've made"_

_"But for the sadness I cast upon you"_

_"I beg, I plead, I implore of thee"_

_"Walk not in the snow-crusted footsteps"_

_"Of our icy home"_

_"Walk where the golden winds blow"_

_"Walk where the cold chains of pride and power"_

_"Touch you no more..."_

_"O Prince of the Kingdom of Ice"_

_"Will you not walk with me, in the sun?"_

_"Just this once?"_

_"..."_

It's been a while since I last heard those words. Or even thought about them.

I can't even be sure if they are the right words.

...

A yawn worked its way up and through my mouth, as I slowly sat up, hand-combing my hair.

Tangled and greasy. Ugh.

One of the drawbacks of staying in the medical wing for so long.

**_"Quit complaining. As I recall, it was your choice to fight, Oak-brat."_ **

My hand stilled.

"Brat. That's rich, coming from where you're standing."

The smirk was more than evident in his voice, even as his face remained blank,  ** _"Is it really wise to insult those of higher power when your wounds have only just started healing?"_**

_The things I've been doing lately haven't really been beneficial to my health, have they?_

**_"As I said before, it remains in your choice to do them or not."_ **

"But not in my choice to maintain a little privacy in my head, apparently." I said tiredly, finally looking at him.

Not-Teito shot me a bored glare as he resumed speaking, the echoes of his muttering crystal-clear in my mind,  ** _"Privacy is overrated. Whatever action committed by man, its consequences will always affect those around him. There exists no such thing as privacy in the eyes of others. And you are no longer in a state of near-death, and I advise you stop with the name-calling if you want it to remain that way. Unless you want to undergo the needle treatment again..."_**

"Oh God no." I said immediately, shuddering. My wrists twinge at the mere mention of the abominable operation.

When they had admitted me into the medical wing after the Kor attack, they found out that they couldn't stop my wrists-or anywhere else where the Zaiphon ropes cut my skin-from bleeding. Healing Zaiphons didn't work, and neither did poultices, plant wraps or anything that Bishop Labrador tried. Finally, the Sisters suggested that the only thing to do would be to manually stitch my skin together.

They put me under the anesthetic and started working.

The only problem was, I could still feel everything they did.

Whatever was in those ropes had left my body-they explained later-in a hypersensitive state. And the anesthetic kicked my brain into overdrive when it should have calmed down enough for me to stop registering pain.

"It's an advanced form of torture that the Empire uses to extort information." Bishop Castor informed me quietly, when he came to the hospital wing the next morning, "A mixture of Zaiphon and science that programs the brain to send signals to...keep itself awake, if you will. The victim would be weakened by loss of blood, which would make them slightly numb to pain before they are healed enough for the brain to finally retrieve the blood lost and send the body into a state of hyper-awareness, which makes the victim doubly aware of the pain still in his body. A loop of several hours of continuous and intense pain before several minutes of numbness." His mouth twisted, "An...efficient process for information retrieval, but it was later banned on ethical grounds. In most cases, the victims went mad from the pain and finally, one managed to break free and kill the torturer and some guards." He fell silent, before continuing in a more pleasant tone, "Bishop Labrador will visit you every hour to check on your healing and provide you a continual stream of Zaiphon to counter the hypersensitivity effect. And we will remove the stitches once it has fully faded from your system. Please keep us informed of your condition so we can avoid further complications."

But Teito...Teito was worse off. He lost so much blood even before the Kor started attacking him. And he most certainly would have died without Not-Teito's or the bishops' intervention. That sobering thought sent chills through me, as my mind's eye sifted through the events that happened that day with sickening clarity.

_Why?_

**_"The more appropriate question is "who?", son of Oak."_ **

The words were said in a less cocky tone than usual. I looked back up to see his sombre expression,  ** _"It's as I had said before. You do not know of my Master's past, the things he did before he came here. My wish was for his days to continue in his new-found peace here at the Church_** " He shut his eyes, sighing,  ** _"but I suppose that was criminally naive of me."_**

"Did you recognize him? The Kor?"

**_"Yes. And so had my Master."_ **

I knew that. I could still hear his desperate pleas.

I could still see his expression.

It was much too familiar to me.

I'd never wanted to see that expression on someone I knew ever again. Because I knew all too well what it led to.

"How exactly had Teito known him?"

 ** _"He was my Master's friend. And someone my Master cared deeply about."_  **Not-Teito looked away, ** _"He'd cared enough for him to remember him above all else, before he could even remember his name."_**

"What?"

**_"My master has amnesia. That you know. But there are different kinds of amnesia, based on the circumstances where one loses his memory."_ **

"...And you think that Mikage-and not the accident in the desert-is the main cause of Teito's memory loss? He somehow saw his friend transform into a Kor?" It's possible that Mikage had attacked him before...or maybe not. The devastated look on Teito's face came to mind again. If he was aware of the fact that Mikage was a Kor before...no, Teito lost his memory so that possibility was still there; he could have known and then lost his memory.

"Did he look normal to you? Like any other Kor you had seen before?"

"...No."

**_"And you, an acolyte of the Chief of Heaven have made it your life to know about these creatures. So it is safe to assume that we are not looking at a normal occurrence here, is it not?"_ **

"And do you think Teito knew what actually happened? Before he lost his memory?"

**_"That seems plausible."_ **

"Do you know what he is, then?"

**_"I have an idea, yes."_ **

...

...

...

"Are you planning on enlightening the rest of us?"

**_"No, I'm not. I can't."_ **

"You...can't. You can't tell us anything." I repeated.

_"You can't tell me anything."_

_"Why can't you tell me anything?"_

**_" I can't tell anyone anything. Pay attention, mortal. My silence extends to all, not just you."_ **

_"Don't consider yourself special."_

_"Don't consider yourself worthy of my hate."_

"Can you at least tell us why you keep your silence?"

**_"...No."_ **

"I thought as much. Fine then."

He looked mildly surprised, ** _"That is the end of this matter?"_**

"Unless you have more to tell us, it is." I replied, "What is it?" I asked, as he stared mutely at me.

**_"Most mortals would not just leave the matter be. Especially if there is a secret they are not allowed to know."_ **

"I'm not like most people."

_"You are not them."_

"And it seems that you can't tell me, as opposed to simply not wanting to tell me. If you could, you would, I'm sure. You want to protect Teito as much as we do, after all."  _We know dangerously little about this individual but of this, we can be certain._

How he knows Teito and what he knows about him...that secret shouldn't cost the life we're trying to protect.

It'll come to light, little by little. The truth always does.

_"As of this day, your mother is dead."_

**_"You are a strange one. Whoever formed that opinion of you was most certainly on the mark."_ **

"Don't let him hear that." I muttered.

**_"What?"_ **

"Nothing. How is Teito doing, anyway?"

 ** _"Still sleeping. No,"_**  he leaned back tiredly,  ** _"I should say that he is attempting to sleep."_**

"Is he still having nightmares?"

**_"Yes. Though he refuses to talk about them. More like he tries to hide them from me-...from us."_ **

"Tries?"

 ** _"It would be more effective if Master did not talk in his sleep. And since he has not been informed of this, and he does not remember that he does_ _so..."_**  He trailed off, looking to the side.

"Do you...do you watch him sleep or something?"

 ** _"No."_  **The reply was much too quick in coming, and there was a tinge of red on his cheeks.

That...would be mildly cute if it wasn't so creepy.

 ** _"A-anyway, from what I could tell, Master's nightmares seem to be the same every time. But whatever dream he has is...strong enough to make him cry in his sleep."_**  He murmured this, looking pensive. Something seemed to occur to him and he shot me an accusing look,  ** _"Speak not of this to Master, nor tease him of it."_**

"I wouldn't!" I said, offended, "This is a grave matter and I don't plan on making light of it! What kind of person do you take me for?"

He pressed on and didn't answer.

**_"The issue of him having nightmares also diminishes the little time he manages to sleep. He suffers from hyper-awareness like you, as you know. But as far as I can tell, he suffers no side-effects from the shut-down his Zaiphon forced his body to undergo."_ **

"He's healing?"

**_"Slowly, but yes."_ **

"Thank the Chief." I said relieved, "I was so worried."

He looked towards the door.

**_"Every time. Every single time I try to prove him wrong..."_ **

"Huh?"

He smiled slightly.

And disappeared before my eyes.

_He should really stop doing that._

I sank back against the pillows, suddenly feeling tired. Which I probably was; it's not like I'd been sleeping any better than Teito recently. Is this what he felt like all the time? Ugh, I feel somewhat bad for making fun of him now...

I opened my eyes again when I heard footsteps outside.

_Click._

"Hakuren?"

I stared.

_Speak of the damned Devil._

"You're supposed to be in bed."

"And you're supposed to be asleep." Teito shot back, as he walked in and sat on the same chair his dopple-ganger was in not two seconds ago.

"Do you honestly think I can sleep when it feels like there are thousands of tiny, poisonous needles stabbing every square inch of my skin?"

"That's a bit...it's not that bad." He pointed out, "The morphine is starting to work for you too, isn't it?"

"Excruciatingly slow."

He smiled a bit, "Yeah. That's true. But I think I'm starting to slowly get used to it."

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine."

"Teito."

"I'm fine! Honest. I'm actually feeling much better."

 _Liar._  Good thing Not-Teito is not as taciturn when it comes to his...master's state of being.

"If you say so. Why are you here?"

"I wanted to visit you. I was worried about how you were doing."

_Worried about how I was doing...in his state?!_

"You were stabbed in the heart with a piece of glass the size of a flag-pole, cut with ropes that are enchanted to torture you for days on end and psychologically tortured by your best friend and you're asking me how I feel?!"

He stopped smiling when I mentioned Mikage.

Oh.

**_Well done, Oak brat._ **

Not-Teito muttered snidely at the back of my head as I fumbled for words, "I...I'm sorry I didn't mean..."

"No, you're right. I...I've been through a lot and I..." He swallowed, before looking away and wiping his eyes on his sleeves, "Can we talk for a bit? I really need to talk to someone."

"Alright."

His eyes met mine for a brief second before looking away again.

"I'm sorry."

Can't say I wasn't expecting that.

"You shouldn't be."

"But Hakuren...!"

"Unless you're saying that you were the mastermind behind the entire operation and you could somehow blow up the nigh-impenetrable diamond-hard glass murals, be in two places at once and be fool-hardy enough to stab yourself in the heart with 99.99% chances of death. Even if you were conniving enough to trick us all into thinking you were an innocent, the excuse of memory-loss at the ready for our questions, I don't think you capable of such a..."

I stopped there.

"Hakuren?"

"Never mind. I just know it's not your fault. So don't apologize."

"But it's because of me that they came here in the first place!"

"You are no more responsible for the attack than any of us. Rather, out of all of us, you've suffered the most."

"I-"

"Stop that. I don't like repeating myself." I said irritably, "You don't have anything to apologize for. And that is that."

"..."

"Rather, we have you to thank. You saved us. You stopped him before he could hurt or kill any of us."

"No. I didn't. I was just running away, I was just being a coward!"

"..."

Are we really going to go through this all again? Really?

"Teito."

"It is my fault! It's...because of me that Mikage..."

I grabbed his hand. "Teito."

"? Wha-"

He managed to choke out before I pulled on his hand and into my arms.

"Stop talking already, idiot." I muttered.

"Hakuren, why-"

"Shh. Just listen."

Bewildered as he was, Teito obeyed. He stopped struggling and relaxed, breathing slowly and gradually becoming regular. Silence flooded the room.

Silence...and...

"Hakuren?"

"Shh!" I repeat, slightly irritated, "Don't you hear it?"

"I...oh."

Teito paused. I watched on, slightly amused as he fell silent, heat flushing his cheeks bright read, finally listening what to what I wanted him to listen.

"Do you hear that?"

"...Y-yeah."

"That's the sound of my heart." I started to say, but faltered a little when I felt him shaking. "...Are you in pain?"

"N-no." He stuttered, before sniffing and continuing in a stronger tone, "No. I'm fine."

"That's the sound of my heart. It's the sound of the life you saved." I continued, "You saved thousands of other lives, thousands of other hearts, and they can beat, give and take blood to support the body and mind, to let people live because you saved them."

"Hakuren..."

"You saved them and me. For that, I am in your debt."

"..."

"I am in your debt, Teito Klein."

"Don't...I'm not someone...I'm not the hero you all make me to be. It's because of me, Mikage..."

"Would Mikage really say it was your fault?"

"!"

"I don't know much about him, true...but you cherish his friendship enough for me to know that he is a kind person. And patient to put up with this stubborn little kitten as a friend." He grumbled a little about that last statement, but let it slide, "And he would be here telling you the same thing. It's not your fault. It's not your fault."

"Haku...ren..." His voice trembled and broke, and I could feel him shaking again.

"It's alright."

"Hakuren..."

"Come on already. I'm not going anywhere. It's alright."

He sniffed again and said, "...Stupid fox."

"What was that, you brat?"

"Nothing."

"I thought so."

"Hakuren?"

"Hmm?"

"Do...do you mind if I stay like this for a while?"

"I don't mind. Go ahead and cry everything out, Hakuren-onii-san will keep you company until the little baby boy stops wailing."

"Stupid...*sniff* stupid idiot..."

"Yes, yes."

He didn't cry though. I wasn't expecting him to cry either.

His eyes were already red.

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Teito:

_I'm so sorry._

_I'm so sorry._

_I'm so sorry._

_I'm so sorry._

_I'm so sorry._

_It's because of me._

_I'm so sorry._

_I'm so sorry..._

_It's because of me, isn't it?_

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Castor:

"That will be all for today."

On cue, relief bloomed on the faces of the acolytes gathered there. They nodded and hurried away, eager to get back to the Library.

"Honestly," Lance tutted, "Why don't they understand that the Exam is not just about memorizing verses? And just reciting them will not eliminate the darkness of this world? If they don't get any Bascules practice, they wouldn't meet the qualifications of being a good Bishop, exam or no exam."

"I see the acolytes are working hard this year as well."

"!" He looked over to where I was standing and grimaced, "...Ggh. You...please do not sneak up on me like that."

"Do not ask the impossible of me." I replied, "And I did not sneak up on you. It was you who passed by here and started gibbering to yourself like a senile old man."

He frowned, "You've been hanging around with that irresponsible oaf for a bit too long, don't you think?"

I chuckled, "I suppose that was a bit too cutting. My apologies. The day has been quite long for me."

"What did the Arch-Bishop have to say about the attack?"

"Considering what we had found out since then, he urges us to be cautious."

"That much is obvious. We have to deal with the Empire's loyal dogs after all."

"With what we've seen these past few years, their involvement is not unexpected."

"But it makes solving this issue much more troublesome." He nodded his head towards the training area, "We have to make sure that the Barrier is back in place before the Exam gets over. As for the issue of dealing with the Army...that may resolve itself in time, but I'm afraid we're on a deadline." He fell silent, gazing at the area for a moment before he added, "Why didn't you tell Teito-kun about him?"

"We've already talked about this, Bishop Lance. No matter how involved he seems to be in our...situation, it was in his best interests to keep him in the dark about us."

"I'm not talking about Frau, Castor." Lance said, "Why didn't you tell him about the half-Kor?"

"We only just found out about it yesterday, Bishop Lance."

"Bishop Labrador had a vision about the Kor's conception."

"But we had no idea of his relation to Teito, or that the Kor formed would be a half. And your powers cannot be utilized by a person's description alone. Teito cannot help in that regard because his amnesia blocks us from accessing his past."

"Dealing with amnesia is hardly new to me." Lance replies, looking offended.

"Yes, but in your case, you have dealt with infantile and retrograde amnesia. Teito though...Labrador has diagnosed that Teito most likely has dissociative amnesia."

"Dissociative amnesia? What kind would that be?"

"The name of a mental ailment when an otherwise healthy person suddenly loses his memory. Nothing to do with normal forgetfulness because injury is not the principal cause. It is caused because of emotional trauma due to a violent crime or a grave accident. That is to say, Teito himself is blocking his memories and any attempts to access them through unconventional means would prove dangerous."

"Like dealing with a sleep-walker."

"That's one way of looking at it, yes."

"About the accident itself...you mentioned that he had been running away from something before, correct? Had you considered the possibility that the military would have had some involvement in Teito-kun's old life, possibly the very incident that ended it?"

"Old life...huh."

"Castor?"

"Nothing. To answer your question, Labrador did receive a vision of the military's inevitable involvement with the Church. We expected a...less obvious attack."

"I see. So what do you plan to do now?"

"We were lucky that there were no fatalities from this encounter, but I believe Teito still feels responsible for the attack. Understandable, really. And with his recent discovery of the Ghosts and the true potential of darkness in this world, his mind is in a fragile mental state."

"That's another thing. What exactly happened back there, Castor?" Lance asked, "I've heard various accounts from the eyewitnesses of the incident and most of them were incoherent at best. But then I heard a much clearer account from an unexpected source." He glared at me, " At what point of time would you deem it necessary to tell me that Teito-kun's excessively powerful and extremely moody doppleganger was sneaking his way past the Sisters to spy on his 'master'?"

"Ah."

He blinked. "You were aware of this, right?"

"That person shares more than his appearance with Teito-kun, it looks like." I muttered, "It's best to leave him be. For reasons unknown, he seems interested only in the boy's welfare. And if his conversation with Hakuren is anything to go by, he doesn't plan on disclosing those reasons soon either. Or he can't."

"You've been eavesdropping again?" Lance asked disapprovingly.

"I'm not the one doing the eavesdropping." I pointed behind my shoulder, "She is."

"And that makes such a difference." Lance sniffed, staring at the doll behind me, "But I don't think I can stop you from doing that."

The expression on his face said the rest of his sentence for him.

Nor do I want to. It's better than making the wrong choices because we don't have any information.

And making wrong choices in this kind of battle would lose us time...and worse.

"At any rate, we should probably just-"

_Castor!_

"Labrador?" Lance said before I could. He briefly looked around the area and glanced back at me. Even as I nodded to show I'd heard him too, I was talking back to him.

_What is it?_

_It's Teito-kun. Regarding the matter we spoke of, it seems that our predictions for the worst case scenario seem to have come to light._

"Worst predictions?" I heard Lance murmur to himself before turning to me, "What's going on, Castor?"

"We seem to have played into quite the troublesome situation." For right now, we should go back to Teito-kun's room and keep a closer eye on him while-"

"Bishop Castor!"

"...! Hakuren-kun? You're not supposed to be out of bed!"

The boy's fingers were grasping frantically at the wall, breath wracked from his body in harsh coughs.

But his voice was still clear enough when he shouted for me to make out the words.

"Bishop Castor! Teito is...!"

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Frau:

"Damn brat..."

_Glug. Glug. Glug._

"How many times am I supposed to keep saving you? Huh?"

_Glug. Glug._

"How many times do I have to stop them from killing you?"

_Glug._

"And one of those sadistic fuckers turns out to be me, huh. You were really shocked when you found out. Looked it, anyway. But you couldn't tell a lie to save your fucking life. Same goes for your face. I really hope you weren't a thief or anything like that before you wound up here, because you'd be crap at it."

"You don't even need to lie. You're the saint here, not me."

"Oh wait no. That's not right. I fucked up. I'm a Bishop, not a saint."

"...I'm neither of those things."

"Well I'm fucked."

_Glug. Glug. Glug._

"Hell, I'm fucking myself over right now." I stare at the wineskin in my hand and snort, "Glasses will probably shit all over himself if he finds out he didn't burn all my stashes."

"How the hell did I manage to land this job again?"

"Oh right. Because of the old fart."

And Bastien.

_Lots of things are because of that damned geezer._

"Yeah. Lots of things."

"Y'know that the kid lectured me on kindness? Right in front of your fucking grave too." I took another swig from the wineskin. "Pretty much like how you tried to give me one when you were bleeding your guts out in front of me. Now that I think about it, he reminds me of you. Kind of. Even though he came here with no memory of who or what he had been before, he seemed to be...fighting for something, I think? I dunno." I shrugged, "Then again, everyone around me seems to be fighting for something, don't they."

Yeah. They all do.

And me? I'm stuck in an eternity of fighting against a literal living demon.

_But I've never actually fought for something. Or someone. Not even when Bastien was alive._

_How can I even protect someone when I can't give enough shits about them to save them before myself?_

_Kindness can save your skin, but that doesn't change the reason for the action, kid._

_I know that all too well._

...

"I need more alcohol. And maybe a smoke. Which I can have if I brought my lighter along. Which I most likely didn't bring. Goddamnit."

I closed my eyes and leaned back against the seat, feeling the low, continuous hum of the hawkzile underneath me.

The heat of the desert sun beat into my skin. Sweat stuck to the back of my neck, dragging down a few strands of hair with them.

It was uncomfortable as hell.

Hey. Maybe this is what Hell was like.

Although, wasn't Hell also supposed to be a cold place, not a raging inferno? It would make more sense for the sinners from District 7 to go there, seeing as they would have no idea how to deal with the eternity of cold, as opposed to dealing with fire.

Then again, nights in the desert were a bitch to deal with. They were so cold, we couldn't stay outside for too long. Since we were technically dead and our bodies were more cold-blooded than anything.

_Where would I go when I die? What was my main reason for being alive in the first place?_

It never bothered me.

I think it was because I was too busy living to worry about what tomorrow would bring. That's what Lab told me anyway. He had that strange smile of his when he said it. That strange, sad smile.

...Both him and Castor. They'd been running all over the place trying to re-instate the barrier, and it had been showing on their faces. Tending to the injured and reassuring the patrons of the Church...

And I'm sitting out here, smack in the middle of the desert, doing jack shit.

"I wonder if that brat's up and about yet. Somehow I doubt it."

After all, where that kid goes, trouble follows.

And it's been quieter than the Church graveyard recentl-

_Hm?_

Another sound joined the low hum the hawkzile was making. It had been there for a while now...

Was there someone else out here? Glasses?

No, that wasn't a hawzkile engine. That sound...wait a second, was that the sound of-?!

I opened my eyes and sat up straight, squinting up at the sky.

...I don't see anything.

...

Did I even hear right? Or is this the alcohol talking?

No. That's definitely the sound of wings.

A Kor.

It was getting louder now. And with the sound of wings, I could hear something else.

Something familiar.

_?!_

I turned to the left.

And I finally saw it.

I finally saw him.

_Teito?!_

He was crying again. But he was making an effort to wipe away the tears on his arm.

He wasn't doing too well though. Not when it seemed to take every ounce of strength to carry a small bundle of cloth in his arms and at the same time, _fly through the fucking sky on wings._

My mind had sputtered to a halt, but my body hadn't. My hands reached for the bars and my foot pushed down on the pedal even as I recognized him and I was jerked back as the machine roared to life, shooting towards the kid like a speeding bullet.

My eyes were still trained on him.

My mouth fell open and closed again in a cry of his name. Again and again, I shouted.

He didn't hear. He couldn't hear me.

He just kept flying in a shaky, straight line. His breath was forced in and forced out with forced sobs and gasps, his arms tight like a vice around the cloth bundle. The things on his back, his wings, beat down heavily against the baked air and that's when I realized things were even more fucked than I first thought.

With every beat of his wings, white feathers shook free, turning to grey for an instant before vanishing in a stream of silver particles, carried away by the wind. And this close, I could smell the cruelly familiar scent of the dead and gone.

Those wings were falling apart. Literally rotting away before my eyes.

He was sinking fast now, because his wings had fallen apart to about half the brat's size and Teito was too heavy to remain airborne on what he had.

Not for long. I leaned my body towards the front, trying to create less air resistance, urge the thing on, I didn't even know.

_Gettohimgettohimgettohim. Fasterfasterfaster._

_He needs you._

"Gotcha!"

The instant my hands met cloth, I pulled and he collided heavily against me. In the mess of feathers and fabric, I could feel him tense up in shock, before he tried to push away from me frantically, screaming for me to let him go.

_Not on your life!_

"Teito, calm down! It's me! Teito!"

It didn't work; I might have well been talking to a rock. He continued struggling, one arm ducking down to hold the bundle of cloth away from me. But he needed to calm down fast, or he'd send us both to our deaths in the sands.

I hit him on the back of the head, gritting my teeth when he cried out in pain.

_I'm sorry, kid._

But with him knocked out, his wings fell bonelessly against his sides and I could finally see.

I carefully steered the hawkzile into a dive, fingers digging deep into his back to anchor him to me.

Hold on just a little...longer...

I pulled the hawkzile up right before the nose touched the ground, and brought the thing to a screeching halt.

As soon as I felt it stop, I pulled the kid closer towards me and took a better look at him.

His breathing was ragged, whimpers slipping from his lips. His body was hunched over the bundle he was carrying, and as I tried to pry his hands away from it, a pained cry from him made me stop.

The kid was still conscious, but barely.

_I'm sorry._

I pulled his arms off it completely and tugged the fabric away.

"What the fuck...?"

The cloth fell away to reveal a small head of fair hair and a body swathed in the white of Church clothes. As I leaned over him, I could hear the sound of slow, deep breathing.

An orphan kid?

_Wait, isn't this the kid that usually hangs out with the brat? Capella, he's called..._

A sob brings my attention back towards the brat, and I could see fresh tears leaking from his eyes as he mumbled, "No...no, no, they caught me..."

"Teito?"

"They caught me...they caught him...they caught and killed him...I don't want him to die, why is he dead,  _I didn't want him to die_!"

His eyes shot open as his voice rose to a scream, and the struggling started anew. His hands scratched away at mine, trying to bring Capella closer to himself, away from me.

"Don't touch him! Get your filthy fucking hands off him!"

"Kid calm down! Teito!"

I gripped his shoulders and shook him roughly, yelling, "Brat, get a hold of yourself! You're safe, both of you! You're safe!"

"...S-safe...?"

His voice had quieted down again, and I could feel his rotting wings stirring against my sides.

"Yes, safe. You're safe here, Teito. You're safe."

I repeated the word over and over again, and the more I said it, the more he seemed to calm down, though his grip remained strong on the little kid.

"Safe..." He repeated finally, slowly as if daring not to believe it, "I'm safe."

"Yes, you are. I've got you, kid."

"Safe...I'm safe...you..."

He looks up at me with reddened eyes, dazed eyes.

"You're safe...I'm..."

One of his arms snaked around the little kid and reached up towards the my cheek. I remained still, an instinct to try to show him I wasn't a threat.

"You...oh, thank God, you're alright."

I frowned.  _Me? I'm alright?_

"You're safe...you're safe...like you promised."

His body lurched upwards suddenly and it was all I could do to keep him from falling off the damn machine.

His hand went from my cheek to my neck and tugged me down. In my confusion to keep him on the hawkzile, I followed his pull unthinkingly.

I stopped when I felt soft lips against mine.

His eyes were closed, his hand curling into a fist around the neck of the coat, pulling me close into the kiss. A kiss that was innocent, feather-light and full of warmth and relief.

We remained like that for a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity.

He pulled away and stared at me through those same unfocused eyes, a smile tugging at those same, soft lips as he said,

"You're safe...you're safe..."

He repeated the words, almost devout, as he sank into my arms.

"...I love you..."

"I love you...Mikage."

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**...**

**Oh God...what on Earth is this piece of shit...*hides face in hands***


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